The Legend of Spyro: Metal Storm
by LauncesMechinist
Summary: Nineteen years after DotD, Spyro and Cynder are living happy lives with their family, however, when a evil from the past joins forces with a new evil that is unknown to dragonkind, can Spyro and Cynder look past pre-conceptions and prevent a world war? Rated M due to war, and just in case.
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone! This is my first story on fanfiction. I am open to suggestions so please review!

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own ANYTHING or ANYONE in the Spyro Universe, I only own my own OCs.

Chapter 1: Horrors of the Past

The cannon shells impacted the soft muddy earth of the hill signaling that the enemy knew that they were there despite the heavy rainfall. Although the shell landed a safe distance away, the men of Syllia's 23rd Artillery Corp. Battery 9 still ducked behind their guns due to instinct. The only figure standing was a tall young officer with Major's clusters on his shoulders, he stood six foot seven and was muscularly built, the black leather rain cape making him look more aggressive normal, the sodden uniform was dark blue instead of the normal bright blue of the Syllian Royal Army; and although he was in command of an artillery battery, he wore the emblem of the Royal Dragoons on his uniform's right chest pocket, the golden shield emblazoned with a silver dragon, mouth open, claws out-stretched ready to tear any and all enemies to pieces, a silver hilted long sword was fastened to the left side of his belt, a standard issue officer's revolver was in the holster on his right hip.

The mud squelched as he shifted his boots to pull them out of the mud before they could sink; his arms were crossed as he surveyed what he could see of the battlefield. The man had a reputation for having a glare that could make even the most hardened veteran cower before him, this was in no small part due to the fact that one eye was a lively blue, while the other was a metallic silver. He half-turned when he heard repeated squelching of the mud signaling that his runner had returned with his battery's orders.

"Major, the order has just arrived to begin bombardment of the enemy fortifications." To this the man he gave a swift nod and turned back to face the hill, the rain had slowed from its pummeling pace and now he could see Callen's Hill perfectly, he could see the ominous structure that was Fort Callen sitting ominously at the top.

"Major, General Dalon wants us to attack our own stronghold?" asked a young private with a slight sound of apprehension.

"The fortress is no longer flying our colors Private Mills. It is instead flying the rat-eaten standard of our enemy. If the hesitation you feel is for the POWs in the fort, don't, because last week due to our approach, the Tellenians executed all of them." This statement drew a shout of anger from one of the men, Barnes, his older brother had been stationed at the fort when it fell and had been confirmed as a prisoner of war. After a few moments, he heard the report of one of the batteries on the south hill and saw the shell impact the south tower of the fort's wall.

"Sir, we are awaiting your orders." Stated the gunnery chief, and as James turned he saw all the men, even Barnes, at their posts and already loading the Skauss rifles. James inwardly smiled, he had been declared a genius when he was young and when he was in the Royalis Military Academy, and he'd invented the concept of a breech loading cannon to replace the aging Carlson Cannons. In honor of the instructor who had supported his idea, Professor Henry Skauss, he had named the weapon the Skauss Rifle. James gunnery crews were well trained, they could fire thirteen rounds a minute using the Skauss Rifle and were familiar with all the specialty rounds; they'd lost their first commander to a sniper attack and following his insistent requests despite his injury, General Williams had placed him in the command of this battery. Raising his hand, James looked at his men,

"All guns, your targets are the emplacements on the south and western walls, the battery on the southeastern tower, and the gate on the east wall which is the only way into the fort. Guns loaded, ready, commence fire!" At his words twelve lanyards were pulled and twelve guns fired hurtling three and half inch diameter shells into the fort, before the first volley had even hit the fort, the crews had another volley loaded and were firing it. Suddenly, a horn blared from behind them, James quickly looked down into the valley and cursed, some three-thousand cavalry were heading up the path at full charge, trumpets blaring, men shouting, horses whinnying, pistols and sabers ready to cleave and blast any enemy thy saw. Looking at the base of the hill, James saw the five trenches that had been dug around the central hill come to life at the sight of the incoming cavalry. What frightened James the most was the new weapons the Tellanians were pulling up. These guns had ten rifles that turned on a central shaft, the weapon had a long box that came up from the back and a crank on the side that turned and fired the barrels. He had seen these guns during the Battle of Launces, when he and his old unit, the 7th Dragoons, had charged into the city. He had lost two-hundred men in that fight, and over a hundred fifty wounded due to those weapons that had been fittingly named "Meatgrinders".

Without warning or preamble, the meatgrinders in the trenches started firing with the riflemen. As soon as the cavalry entered the range of these guns they began to fall like wheat before the scythe. The gunners didn't care whether they hit the horse or the rider, most actually shot for the horses and let the riflemen shoot the riders out of the saddle. James watched, eyes fixed in horror as terrified screams came from man and beast alike. In several instances the gunners kept shooting the corpses long after it was obviously dead, one soldier who was getting up was shot multiple times, his body doing a macabre "dance" as he hit each time until finally he fell upon his horse.

Then diverting his eyes, James saw the infantry beginning their advance, this time it was some nine-thousand strong, bayonets fixed and ready to charge. When he turned back to look, the cavalry charge was dead to a man, he saw only five cavalrymen had managed to jump over the first trench only to get cut down from behind and from before as now all the trenches were awake and spewing lead all along the path to the fort, the infantry made a valiant effort, but they two were being cut down.

"Signalman to me!" shouted James quickly. A signalman not even nineteen yet, ran up and saluted. "Send signal to east hill battery, 'Support infantry, focus fire on trenches, combination air burst and frag shell, urgent!" The boy quickly ran to the side of the hill and began waving his signal flags.

Moments later, a signal; "Major, the signal is 'what about our orders?' sir what should I send?"

"To Hell with the orders! Those are our comrades down there! Does that idiot want to sit on that hill watching this horror show?!" The boy nodded, turned and signaled exactly what James had said.

There was no acknowledgement in flags, instead it came when a volley of airburst and fragmentation shells impacted the closest trench silencing nine of the meatgrinders and several dozen riflemen who were in the trench, and detonating an explosives crate that was in it too.

"All guns shift fire! Focus on the closest trench to us and use a combo of airburst for the riflemen and fragmentation for the meatgrinders; hurry!"

Within moments, multiple shells began impacting the trenches at various angles, apparently the northeastern batteries had moved their guns too. Three batteries of twelve guns on three hills were firing volley after volley into the low trench, the dirt and sandbag embankment was gone, the razor wire was in pieces and nearly all the meatgrinders were out of commission, their gunners either dead or fleeing. The infantry commander waved a 'clear to advance' signal to James at which he replied 'confirmed proceed to first trench'.

Then, "Signal batteries, raise elevation by five to hit second trench, allied infantry to take cover in first trench." Again the confirmation was the shells hitting the second trench. This time however, the cannons that were stationed in the fifth trench, began firing back. Although the Tellanians only had the old muzzle loading cannons they were deadly nonetheless; their first volley fell short but their second volley impacted with the east hill batteries destroying nine of their guns and silencing four more.

"Damn it, I didn't expect those cannons were that accurate. Change of plans. Mack, have your battery elevate to forty-five degrees and take out those cannons." "Understood James."

"Chief, can the boys manage a mad minute?" The chief grinned, looked at the boys and said, "Major, this is possibly the last battle of the war, I believe if they can end the war, they could do a mad hour." James was shocked, he honestly hadn't thought about the tide of the war, but then again here they were barely fifty miles from the Syllia/Tellanos border; an overwhelming victory here could push the enemy back to their homeland and could make the Federal Committee seriously consider peace as compared to an invasion of _their_ homeland.

He had no doubt that the Syllian Army could march fifty miles plus another twenty-five to the city of Chamberlain, which was the hometown of Chairman Reems of the Committee. Reems had a very vocal attitude when it came to the committee, and he would _not_ tolerate an invading nation capturing his hometown and raiding it in response to a war.

"Chief, if they can fire twenty rounds a minute for one hour; they just might win the war." The crews had obviously heard the conversation and made a renewed effort to drop hot lead on the enemy.

One hour and roughly twelve hundred rounds later, the Syllian forces had been bolstered by reinforcements and the fifth trench was under continuous fire from the artillery on the hills and from the meatgrinders that the infantry had managed to turn around and fire uphill the enemy that were coming out of the fortress to try and bolster their own flagging strength.

A few moments later, a loud roar resounded overhead. A wounded private in the first trench looked up and began shouting. James also looked up and grinned, the ultimate Syllian reinforcements were arriving; the Dracocorps.

For over three-hundred years, the Kingdom of Syllia had maintained friendly relations with the dragon settlements around the nation. The dragons of the north, too few to actually threaten a modern army, allowed a sort of union between human and dragon; the creation of the Dracocorps; the dragons are taught by one of their elders about humans, and the humans learn about dragons. The Dragoons are the human branch of the Dracocorps; the dragons are the main force. James had seen the dragons in combat before and he knew what they were capable of, each possessed their own elemental power from fire, earth, ice, and electricity. The rarer elements were wind, fear, shadow and poison; the rarest of all was light. The only dragon who could use all the elements was the extremely rare purple dragon, but they were born once every ten generations.

Naturally they had heard rumors of another dragon civilization in what was known as the Southlands to the Syllians; where another purple dragon had been born and was fighting a war against an evil dragon known as Malefor; the Dragoons and the Dracocorps had petitioned several times to request to be deployed to the Southlands to investigate the rumors and, if proven true, assist in the defeat of the Dark Master; however, with the invasion of Syllia three years before, those petitions had vanished; the motto of the Dracocorps' humans and dragons alike was, 'the homeland comes first'.

Although the dragons openly stated that when the homeland was secure, they would head south; the dragons above James now, were some of the more vocal ones about the war and their anger at the Federation was apparent to any who looked up at them.

The leader was a dragon known as Shimmer, and he was one of the rare light dragons in the Dracocorps. He opened his mouth and a bright blue-white beam of light fired down into the fort and the light kept up for five seconds until the wing of five dragons had fired their elements and passed by. James looked up to view the destruction the dragons had wrought.

Shimmer's brother, Pyre had set most of the fifth trench on fire, an ice dragon had frozen the east wall, two earth dragons had shattered the southeast tower, another fire dragon had set the open tower ablaze, Shimmer himself had blown open the gate, detonated the mortars inside the fort and had blown up a munitions room on the south gate creating another opening in the fort.

James found himself whistling in amazement as the enemy survivors of the dragon raid began to file out of the fortress. One thing you could count on was the ability of the dragons to control their power and intimidate the enemy. After a mere seven second raid, the enemy's will to fight was completely sapped and the survivors surrendered to a man. Steadying himself on his cane, James walked down the hill to where Shimmer and his wing had landed. Shimmer was average size for a dragon of his young age, at the shoulders he was ten feet, with his neck and head up, he was fifteen feet.

Upon finishing his talk with his brother , he turned and saw James coming and walked over to him, "Hello James, I expected you would still be in Launces resting."

"You know me Shimmer, too tough to take down and too damn thick skulled to stay put." Shimmer laughed, a sound that boomed and always made people turn heads to look in surprise. When James had joined the Dracocorps, he had been assigned to Shimmer as a human liaison. Back then, Shimmer was so unused to humans he jumped at everything; James had been his first human friend and as such Shimmer considered James an unofficial dragon. Shimmer's brother Pyre was of like the same mind and since James was older than both of them looked to James as a big brother.

Shimmer's wing was the only Dracocorps wing that was assigned to a human city other than Royalis. As such, the people of Launces often watched the wing practice their maneuvers with mixed fascination and surprise. The abilities of dragons often fascinated humans, some more so than others. Then another dragon landed with an incredible reverse flap.

"Shimmer! Great news, the war in the Southlands is over! The purple dragon defeated Malefor!" At this the dragon lifted up their heads and roared in jubilation. James smiled, then suddenly, the storm clouds came back and rain began to fall in thick sheets, and on the wind there was a voice, deep and resonant, _"You cannot defeat me! I am eternal!"_ The shadows leaped and swirled around James and before he could do anything, he was enveloped in darkness.

"W… up! James, please w… up! Wake up! James!" the voice called, barely penetrating the dark; suddenly he felt a shaking sensation. His eyes flew open and with a shout he jumped out of the bed as if it had become a block of ice. Getting his bearings, he turned and began to recognize his surroundings, he was in his castle, or more precisely, the master bedroom solar in his castle and before him stood his wife, the dragoness shape shifter Lysa and beside her their daughter Thera, along with their guards and outside, he could hear Shimmer and his wing in an uproar. He looked at himself, he was breathing heavily, sweating profusely and his heart was beating a hundred miles a minute. After a few seconds, he was able to pull himself together, take a deep breath and calm down.

"I'm alright, I'm okay now. Lysa."

"Are you sure, love? You suddenly started screaming in your sleep, were you having another nightmare?"

"I….I don't know; I haven't had a nightmare that severe since before we married. All I know is that something is wrong, Captain Deran, get the city ready for war, I have a feeling that darkness is coming, and we have to prepare now, or we may not survive this storm."

"At once my lord." Slowly, James grabbed his cane and limped over to the huge window that let him look out the castle and let him see his city.

He sighed and looked at the three pedestals in his room, which of the three books will he have to open: the Auralis, Crimsonas, or the Grimoire? Little did he know that in the Southlands, in the city of Warfang, another had awoken from a nightmare and this time he and his mate, a black dragoness who lay beside him, would need all the help they could get.

Woo-wee! First chapter down, who knows how many to go?! XD

Seriously though, I'll try to update again soon, however the wi-fi is kind of spotty sometimes.

Also FYI I am NOT using "The Legend of Dragoon" in this fanfic, During the Hundred Years War between England and France, Dragoons were mercenaries from Switzerland who fought for either side, they were expert gunners, horsemen and soldiers, their unique skill set made them the GSG9 of that time and era, some of the highest paid and best trained mercenaries were from Switzerland and other Germanic territories. (However back then they were still a part of the Holy Roman Empire.)

You know, I think I'm reading too much into my Switzerland/Germanic ancestry. Then again I read into my Irish ancestry a lot too. {:D

And for those who are curious about the three books, I'll reveal that in the next chapter, but for now you are welcome to contemplate on their purpose and meaning. Please rate & review! :D


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, second chapter here we go!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything in the Spyro universe; the only thing I own are my OCs.

Chapter 2: Heroes Awaken

His amethyst eyes opened like a shock, as if someone had dumped a bucket of freezing water on his head. Only his training with the guardians and his experience at keeping calm kept Spyro from shouting and waking up the still sleeping dragoness beside him.

The nightmare had seemed all too real; he had seen death and destruction during the war against the Dark Master's armies, but never on that big a scale. The strangest part of it was that there were apes or something resembling them fighting alongside dragons fighting another army of the ape-like beings. His mind still torpid from sleep, he shook the nightmare from his mind and instead turned his attention to the dragoness beside him.

No matter how many times Spyro looked at her during the day or night, he still couldn't believe that Cynder was his mate. After defeating Malefor and trying to pull the world back together, he had heard her whisper softly, _"I love you."_

It was those words that gave him the resolve to use what little power he had left and create a passage out of the core; using his earth element to create a stone shield to protect her and himself from the lava, he had made a tunnel all the way to the surface and once there, he had carried her on his back for two days until finally they had made it back to Warfang. Then he had spent another three days in the city's makeshift hospital until she finally awoke and the first thing he did was kiss her (much to the surprise of the other dragons in the room and to the disappointment of a certain pink female dragon) and then softly whisper so that only she could hear, _"I love you too."_

After word spread(mainly through Sparx) that Cynder had been the one to help Spyro defeat Malefor, and that she had assisted so many during the Warfang siege, the people had become more welcoming of her and one year after the war's end they were officially mated. Even in the dim glow of the early morning, Spyro could see clearly the outline of Cynder's stomach as the pregnancy was now seven months along. He had thought that one or two kids would be enough, but here he was a father of three and a fourth only two months away. His oldest son, Ignitus, was turning eighteen in three weeks, then his two daughters Zephr, and Gia, were fifteen and ten. Ignitus was already an expert magic and flame user, in fact, the new fire guardian, Helios, had called him a prodigy; Terrador on the other claw, had said since he was given the name of a hero, the ancestors had given him the power of the previous Ignitus. Spyro often didn't know what to think, was his son's power _really_ from Ignitus, or was it just that he was the son of the purple dragon and the "Guardian of the Skies" as Cynder was known as nowadays.

No matter what the reason, the only thing Spyro wished for his son was that he would lose that shyness as he got older. The only true friend Ignitus had was Flame and Ember's son Ash, but when it came to others he clammed up as quickly as Volteer does whenever Cyril freezes his mouth shut. However, the more Spyro thought about it, the more the nightmare bothered him.

Then a voice broke him out of his worry, "Awake already Spyro, usually it's me, Sparx, or Zephr that gets you up this early."

"Morning Cynder, feeling alright?"

"Just fine, except a little nauseous, but that's normal at this point."

Spyro nodded, "Yeah, hard to believe that in two more months the egg will be here."

"Just do me a favor, don't run into the room like you did last time when I was in trance."

"How could I forget, you nearly took my head off."

"If not for Flame pulling your tail back out of the room I probably _would_ have."

"No you wouldn't have."

"Well….just don't barge in next time. Anyway so what got you up early this morning?"

"Uh you know , just wanted to get an early start to the day."

Cynder stared at him for a while and then, "You're lying. Spyro we've been mates eighteen years, I can read you like a book."

"Female intuition?"

"No, you're just that obvious, and besides we fought Malefor together remember? Whatever it was you can tell me." Spyro sighed, he was too obvious . He then told Cynder everything he saw in the dream, even the weird apes that fought alongside dragons instead of against them. When he had said this, however, Cynder's jaw dropped, he would have laughed had the dream not been so horrifyingly real.

"Spyro, we must inform the guardians about this. This may not be a dream but a vision."

"Well, Cyril and Volteer did seem to think that I would soon be able to use the pool of visions. Maybe that dream was just a way of letting me know it's time."

"Then it would be best if you went to see them now, before academy lessons start today."

"Alright, I'll be back later on today."

As Spyro walked down the central avenue of Warfang, dragons, moles, cheetahs, and even the wolf people and atlawa there bowed their heads. Spyro in response nodded back to them, knowing that they were only showing respect. Personally, he didn't want them to treat him like a hero; he just wanted to live with his mate in anonymity, but with him being the purple dragon, to was so was impossible. He reached the steps to the new Warfang temple one hour later, and upon entering found Volteer and Terrador, both of whom turned when he entered.

"Good morning young one," Terrador stated," by your presence here I have to ask is Cynder alright?"

"Yes, she is; it's just that she is getting close to term."

"Ahsothatisthereasonforthesud denrapidexpedientrushedvisit yourmateisactingasadragoness ofherage."

"Oh, please Volteer, do slow down that incessant rambling and let us here why Spyro has come."

"OfcourseCyrilwemustassertain dicovertheorize…mmph!" Spyro looked up to see Cyril had frozen Volteer's mouth shut again.

"Cyril, must you keep doing that? You know he runs out of steam eventually." Spyro turned to see a new dragon enter the temple, the fire guardian Helios.

"Good day Helios; here to get the classes started this morning?"

"Indeed, today I will be teaching the young ones how to control their fire and use it not only for offense, but defense, and other roles. I still have some time though so I thought I'd come see what all the fuss was about."

"The…fuss, is a dream or rather a vision I saw."

Terrador nodded slowly, "Ignitus knew that you were one of the dragons who could use the pool of visions. Come and let us see the vision and try to make sense of it." A few moments later all five dragons were at the pool of visions; the clear yet silvery liquid made Spyro stop and gaze in remembrance; remembering his old mentor and father-figure Ignitus, remembering the old temple, his adventure to stop Cynder and freeing her, the Night of Eternal Darkness, and then the war against Malefor. He stopped, took a deep breath, and then focused.

The vision he had seen began to appear on the water when, "Hey Spyro, buddy! There you are, you know it's getting difficult to find you anymore because there are so many dragons here in Warfang nowadays." Sparx shouted at the top of his lungs; Spyro's concentration flagged and the water returned to its clear state.

"Sparx, could you tone it down I was trying to recall a vision."

The dragonfly stopped where he was hovering and stared. "Since when have _you_ been able to see visions purple-boy?"

"Since apparently last night and now I'm _trying_ to recall the vision if you don't mind."

Helios turned to the dragonfly, "Also you know generally when someone is looking into the pool of visions it is generally regarded as respectful to keep ones big mouth shut."

"Okay, okay I get it; quiet, peace, tranquility. I'll just be over here silent, don't mind me I'm just a fly on the wall. Well, actually I'm a _dragon_fly on the wall but hey who cares and as for a big mouth, wait a sec, here I thought Helios was incapable of insulting someone; he's always so polite."

"I swear," Cyril sighed, "whatever that annoying mosquito lacks in Volteer's speed, he makes up for it with volume."

Spyro began to focus again, however, unlike the vision while he was asleep, this one he could sense was happening right now. Through the waters he made out the shapes of several of the ape-figures and he heard the guardians gasp. As the image became more clear, he could channel their voices through the pool.

_"My lord," _started one, _"are you sure you are alright? I mean dreams occur do they not?" _Spyro jerked inwardly, had this ape also seen the vision?

_"Bertram I told you, the nightmares ceased when I married Lysa nineteen years ago, why would they start reappearing now? Especially when the world is at peace?"_

_ "I do not know my lord, but I can say this, your nightmares must have resurfaced for a reason."_

_"And what reason is that? That I should open those three books and review the blueprints within?"_

_"It could very well be that reason sir." _

_"I really hope that for once you are wrong, at least about the Grimoire. I __never__ want to write anything in that book again. The devices in that tome have too much potential to be used for evil, and that is something I cannot allow." _

_"Sir, perhaps some music from the autoplayer to soothe your nerves?" _

_"Yes, that would be best I think; how about 'Heart of Oak'?"_

_ "Yes, sir at once. Oh! Before I forget, there are two of the First Lords here to see you."_

_ "Which branches?" _

_"First Sea Lord William Greagor, and First Sky Lord Voltaris." _

_"Send them in."_

_A few moments later another ape man emerged from the door his clothes were brightly colored, he had a swirling cape behind him, and had a look of confidence. The two apes shook their hands, and then much to the shock of everyone, a dragon came through afterwards; he easily stood fourteen feet at the shoulders and had to duck his head to get into the library. Then adding to the shock, both ape men bowed slightly which no one could mistake as a sign of respect. _

_The dragon smiled and nodded to both of them, "James, it is good to see you; how is Lysa and Thera doing?" The ape man 'James' smiled back and guided the other ape man and the dragon to the open area in the middle of the library. The dragon rested on a thick blue mat, the other brightly colored ape sat in a tall red chair, and the James ape sat in an identical chair. _

_"Now before we get down to business, would either of you like refreshments?"_

_ "Yes I would indeed." Spoke the "Sea Lord", "If you have it I would like a decanter of that Northumbrian whiskey, I've heard about. Would you like anything Lord Voltaris?"_

_ "No thank you, I had a meal before coming here." The James ape nodded rang a small bell and told the steward what the group had decided upon._

_A few moments later, after the refreshments had been served, the Sea Lord looked up from his glass, "Now then Professor as you are no doubt aware, the Royal Navy and the Dracocorps have been trying to create a co-op branch for many years, however we have always drawn a blank; until however, you came up with that interesting idea for a new type of ship." _

_Voltaris nodded sharply, "Yes I've only heard parts of it but I'm intrigued. Do you have the blueprints here in the library?" _

_"Yes, I have them right here," the James ape said as he reached over to a small desk and produced a rolled up piece of blue paper and tacked it to the board; the drawing on the paper was unlike any kind of ship Spyro had ever seen. The numbers for the length and beam and height was 1150ft, 278ft, and 95ft. The weird thing was that the ship had no masts, sails or rigging. _

_"Lord Voltaris, Lord Greagor, I present to you the Arkibus; I took an old merchant ship and modernized her; steel reinforcement, steam elevators and heating, and the lower deck has room enough for eighty dragons, and the deck has enough space for seven to take off or land at the same time. As for the ship class, she is over fifteen thousand tons so she is not covered in the Sanijo Naval Treatise, so a new class is required, that's another reason I needed you here Lord Greagor, new ship classes are a political matter especially of this size, however I am confident that the uses and possibilities far outstrip the risks." _

_The Sea Lord scratched his chin thoughtfully and analyzed the blueprint, "Let's see, a ship that is longer than the standard which is the RNV Dreadnaught at one-thousand feet even, heavier at the same standard which is twelve thousand tons, due to its purpose, the only word that comes to mind is "Carrier", and sometimes it may need more of a description to get the plans off the drawing board. I assume the prototype, this, "Arkibus" has been proven sea worthy?" _

_"Yes, sir; sea trials completed last week and Shimmer's wing volunteered to test the deck, which held the stress of seven full grown dragons landing at the same time. The ship has a cruising speed of fifteen knots, and a top speed of twenty if you push the engines. She has been fitted with side turrets to house a full complement of twelve five inch naval guns and has installments for various other small arms such as ten millimeter and twenty millimeter auto cannons, and forty-five and sixty-five caliber machineguns, her armor thickness is six inches hull and four inches deck. Minimum crew required roughly two hundred sixty, full crew four hundred ten. According to the numbers, she will keep pace with the Dreadnaught and any other capital ship, and her firepower is comparable to a standard cruiser."_

_ "That is good news for several reasons, one is the obvious, we need a ship that can keep up with the fleet and provide air cover and have enough firepower to act independently or take on the role of flagship, and the other is of a more worrying nature." Upon this statement, Volaris brought his attention to the Sea Lord and watched as he produced a folder from his briefcase and laid it on the table. Inside were pictures of machines that could have no form or function, and also there were maps and other lists that Spyro and the guardians could not decipher. James took one look at the papers and pictures and went pale as a sheet._

_ "Is this intel reliable?"_

_ Greagor nodded solemnly, "The intel is one hundred percent accurate, the Federation is rearming and it is possible that they are being supplied with Syllian made weapons. This constitutes treason on the highest level and the kicker is that only one quarter of the report contains data on the Federation. Other nations listed are the Laerton Republic, Na' Log Principality, and the Namor Empire. You of all people know what this means." _

_"That some of the most advanced weapons of the Syllian military have been reproduced by nations that dislike us." _

_"Correct, this is a political and military shit storm, the civilian council and military council are at each other's throats trying to decide what to do and by giving us this blueprint now, you have given us a huge advantage at sea and in the air." _

_"Sir, any idea who is behind this?" _

_"No, just suspicions and that list is nearly one mile long. People are slinging shit everywhere and hoping it lands on the guilty party and not fly back at their faces. The only reason you are not under investigation is because of your loyalty to the nation and because we know that you would never hurt anyone intentionally." _

_"Thank you for that vote of confidence milord. On a further note, now that this has come to light, I will send word to the factories at Sanijo, Leviathos, and Porthos to focus solely on the Arkibus project, at the current rate, should you give the okay, we can build four ships every three months, there is no shortage of mothballed ships that can be repurposed to serve."_

_ "Four per three, I like the sound of that, what is the cost per ship?" _

_"Roughly that of a Scimitar cruiser, about forty thousand per ship." Bertram's eyes lit up at the sum, then he smiled, _

_"That's a kick in the head for those politicians, they were saying that the new ship would cost three times that." _

_"I always try to give my nation the most bang for their gold."_

_"Good, then in two days time the Arkibus will be given her military trial," the Sea Lord said._

As they went on talking, Spyro began to feel his strength wane and let the pool return to normal, leaving him panting lightly at the toll. He turned to face the guardians and was greeted by several other faces including that of his son.

"Spyro, was that the vision you saw?"

"No that wasn't it; the vision was at a battlefield, although that James character was there. I think that there is a meaning as to what we just saw."

"What do your instincts tell you?" asked Terrador.

"They tell me that this James can be trusted and that he is not like the apes that we know of."

"Indeed and it is decided. Spyro, we want you to make contact with this ape man and try to forge a peace with him, once you are there try to get a feel for the nation and its people; like you we have a feeling that we need to establish friendly relations with them; if that vision of yours includes this Kingdom of Syllia, then it is all the more important to meet with them. Will you do this?" Spyro looked at his family, Cynder having arrived just before the vision slipped, was looking at him with a worried expression, for the first time in a long time they would be apart for who knew how long, and to top it off, he was going to make contact with some unknown tribe of apes.

"If it is the will of the Ancestors, I will do it." The guardians knew what they were asking him to do nodded slowly. Even though nineteen years had passed, the dragon race and the other races of the realms were still recovering from the war; if there was a chance mainly to reestablish contact with another dragon civilization and if this culture had managed to get apes to ally with them, then it was all the more reason to do so. Already the scouts had brought back reports about a new army massing in the outer realms, and this time they may not be as fortunate as they were before.

Sorry for the long update, writer's block.

Well that's two down, and just for those who are wondering about the tech talk between James, Greagor, and Voltaris, the carrier is going to play an important part later on as is the rest of the Syllian Navy. While I'm on the subject did you know that the first aircraft carrier actually was a repurposed merchant vessel in service for England's Royal Navy? The vessel wasn't overhauled but they simply built a wooden deck over the superstructures on the primary deck. The carrier, although I forgot the name, was successful in most of its missions until it was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in WWI. Also the song 'Heart of Oak' is song dedicated to the British Royal Navy's old wooden ships.

Afterward, the U.S and Japan shot ahead in the race for the aircraft carrier, the Lexington class for the states and the Akagi and Kaga for the Japanese. Also the Dreadnaught was in real life the first ship to be called a battleship, built in 1908 for the British Royal Navy, it's construction turned every other navy in the world on its ear in particular the German Navy which had just finished ramping up its navy to match Britain's.

In you want to know I am a living textbook regarding history during the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly the early 20th. Plus I am a huge Navy fan, even though I come from a family that has served in all branches.

Until next time for now I leave you with a quote that I thought was hilarious: "See how the wind makes my moustache tremble!" ~ A general from Fire Emblem: Awakening. (If you haven't played it, do so it is easily the best one yet, and it in 3D!" 0..0 Please review! :D


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 present and accounted for; Prepare to weigh anchor and shove off.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything in the Spyro universe only my own OC's.

Chapter 3: High Seas Meeting

Seagulls were calling high above the sky as James was bidding his family goodbye for the moment. The sea trials for the _Arkibus_ had been advanced due to recent intelligence that the Federation was amassing soldiers and war weapons along the Syllian border. Though this was merely a sea trial for a new vessel, Admiral Greagor had assigned the Syllian 9th Fleet to act as escort for the new ship.

Well perhaps new was not the best word for the _Arkibus_, she was originally a twenty year old merchant ship that had been mothballed for repairs, something about a fire in the engine room, however during this time the original owner went bankrupt and put all twelve of his ships up for auction. James, never one to miss an opportunity, purchased all twelve ships for forty thousand gold, and the _Arkibus_ was the first of the new class of carrier to be finished. In the two months since her purchase, workers from nine of James' factories had come to the ship to overhaul the ship.

Repairs were actually not difficult to make as the fire hadn't destroyed all that much, the real work was tearing down the superstructures on deck, replacing the exhaust system and moving the bridge from its original position mid ship and moving it toward the stern, the new exhaust system required the smokestacks to be fitted to the port side of the ship rather than behind the bridge; furthermore, the wooden deck had to be torn up and replaced with steel to support the weight of the dragons she was to carry.

Two huge hatches, one mid ship, and near the bow marked the entrance to the dragon deck below, along her sides were numerous frames in place where "blister" turrets were supposed to go. The workers had already installed her main battery of twelve five inch guns, six starboard, and six port. The remaining crevices were to serve for the auto cannons and machine guns that would serve as secondary weapons to rake the deck of the enemy ship or shoot down an enemy zeppelin. Though incomplete, the _Arkibus_ still cut a grand figure and many a sailor wished to be a part of the historic occasion, even Admiral Greagor, the First Sea Lord could barely contain his excitement.

"Now remember you listen to Captain Havvers while I'm away, understand Thera?"

"Yes, papa I do." James nodded and turned, kissed Lysa, then embraced his family.

"James, how long will the sea trials take?"

"The Admiral believes he needs roughly a week to test the new ships capabilities, due to this being a trial phase, we will only have Shimmer's wing aboard. Once we see how the ship performs in multiple conditions, then we shall return."

A loud horn interrupted him and he saw Shimmer's wing as well as Sky Lord Voltaris landing gently on the deck. Grabbing his suitcase, James turned straitened the front of his coat, and proceeded up the gangplank to the ship. Another loud horn and smoke poured forth from the smokestacks and the sounds of the _Arkibus'_ steam turbines sprang to life. The crew on deck waved goodbye and the dragons looked longingly out to sea, with a determination in their eyes to be the _first_ sea borne dragon wing in known history.

A loud clap of thunder woke Spyro out of his sleep, looking outside he saw rain beginning to fall and silently thanked Cynder for asking the guardians to let him go later rather than that very evening. It had been two days since he had summoned the vision and Spyro had suggested he wait until the sea trial of the _Arkibus_ before he flew out. Not knowing how far Syllia was, they had agreed and had sent scouts flying the skies over the oceans to look for a ship matching the description Spyro had given them.

"What's the matter Spyro; afraid of a little storm?" asked Cynder as she two woke up from beside him.

He laughed, "No not the storm, sometimes I swear I can hear Terrador snoring all the way from the temple."

Cynder chuckled, "Yes he does tend to snore loudly, although not _that_ loudly as I recall. You however were a whole other story, the only dragon who could out snore you was Ignitus and he.." Cynder cut the statement short; talking about his old mentor and father figure, always made Spyro gloomy. Spyro hearing her stop mid sentence, smiled slightly, and then; "However _you _snored louder than all of us."

Cynder rared back in mock shock and said, "_Me snore?!_ I do believe you are talking more about yourself than me, besides don't you know how impolite it is to tell a dragoness she snores?! It is _very_ impolite."

She jerked her head away from him and a few seconds later Spyro draped a wing over her, rubbed her neck with his, and smiling, kissed her.

"And here I thought romance went out the window when the babies came into the picture."

"No love, it's always been there, we just haven't had that much time to ourselves."

"Well, when you leave, I'll have less time with you still. Wait, today's that sea trial, isn't it?"

"Yes it is, and before the guardians send a messenger to drag me away, I wanted to spent all the free time I've got left with you." He kissed her again and to the sound of the torrential downpour and thunder, they laid down together again, the sounds of their romance muted by the storm.

Aaros, the youngest member of Shimmer's wing was having a miserable time of the sea trial, he was the _only_ dragon in the wing who was sea sick and couldn't go below. Three times he had been forced to _review_ the contents of his stomach as the fish and other sea creatures came to the surface to help themselves.

The first time had been just out of harbor and a few unfortunate crewmen were right in front of them when he hurled, and he was sure they would be smelling of half digested mountain ox for the _entire _trial, and as a result no crew member would come near him save for Professor James.

The others of the wing thought it was hilarious they themselves did not get sick at the way the waved churned and spray came up high. Even thinking about it made him sick and he hurled again, this time however, a piece of the ox came out and smacked a large blue fin tuna on the head knocking it out.

One of the gunners looking over spied the tuna and ordered a line thrown, and within minutes a large seventy pound tuna was on deck. The gunner smiled, "Well, let's take this whopper to the cook and see if the gunnery crew can't have seafood tonight." The rest of the crew laughed and Aaros threw his head over the top rail and hurled another portion of his oxen breakfast.

James, Admiral Greagor, and Voltaris looked at the young dragon on deck, they had laughed a bit when the gunners had dragged the tuna up onto the deck.

Moments later, Greagor turned to Volaris, "I believe you said a few days ago that dragons do not get sea sick."

Voltaris snorted, "Yes, and I believe there is an old human saying, 'there is a first time for everything', correct?. Is there any way to cure sea sickness James?"

"Well with humans we just give them sea biscuits. The bread is easily digested and helps prevent sickness, although I don't have the foggiest notion about a dragon's digestive tract."

"It is much the same as humans, we have a mouth, throat, one stomach, and a large and small intestine, the only difference is that your organs are not protected by scales that are nearly impenetrable."

"Speaking of defenses, James, have you developed a means to protect soldiers from bullets?"

"I've actually developed two inventions that do that, one is a suit of armor that has been strengthened to resist bullets, but is very heavy; the other is a vest that offers the same protection and is lighter, however it is more expensive because it uses silk instead of steel. The armor I'm using is of the model used by the Silver Order during the Incursion four hundred years ago. Also, I've started development of a vehicle which I believe both the Army and the Marines will be interested in."

"What sort of vehicle?"

"That is a surprise, and I think I'll see now if I can procure a few sea biscuits for Aaros." With that, James turned on his heel, walked swiftly through the door to the bridge and was gone.

James went to his cabin after seeing the cook, upon arriving in the room he went to his desk and took the blueprint of the vehicle that he had been telling Greagor about. During the Battle for Callen's Hill, James had noticed the ineffectiveness of horse mounted cavalry against trenches barbed wire and the meat grinder machine guns. To the fact of wanting to protect the infantry from attack, he had built an armored wagon, however, in muddy terrain the wheels got stuck and required more men to dig it out. It fared even worse in snow, as the wagon would sometimes skid sideways and crash.

After the last failure he had an epiphany, using treads like the ones on the T-12 farm tractor he had built, the only difference was to move the steam engine to the middle, set an armored driver's cab in the back and on the front rig a small turret that housed a Skauss V2 30mm cannon, and/or twin machineguns.

The early tests proved fairly successful, the only problems were that the steam engine didn't put out too much power, the machine couldn't climb hills, and only went ten miles per hour. However, despite the shortcomings of the invention that had been named "tank" by the crew, James was sure the tank was going to redefine warfare as humanity knew it.

After finishing the sketches, he looked out the porthole in his cabin, across from the _Arkibus_ was the cruiser _Hammerstead_ and the escort destroyers _Maine Gauche _and _Epoch_. The ships of the 9th Fleet were all obsolete by ten years, however since the ships in that fleet had illustrious careers, it was impossible to get a bill passed to scrap the ships since most of the men who had served on these ships had returned home heroes of the Straits War.

When he was little, James' uncle Frederick de Launces, would tell him stories of the Straits War. Even though it was actually a campaign to put an end to piracy once and for all, so great was the fleets and so large were the battles that it became a war by default, even though again no formal declaration of war had been announced. Frederick had served on the _Hammerstead_ during the war and had returned home as one of the forty six sailors to be awarded the Paladin's Cross of Valor, Syllia's highest military award.

Sadly like his parents, Frederick had been killed in the Syllian War when his ship the _Grand Cross_ was torpedoed and sunk by a group of six destroyers. The ship had capsized with roughly eighty men aboard and of those men twenty made it out of the ship before she hit bottom. Frederick was in the engine room according to the survivors fighting to the end to save his doomed ship. His actions had saved their lives that day and he had been lauded as "The Fighting Sailor".

Suddenly an alarm blared through the ship and a voice came over the intercom: _"Attention all personnel, Federation fleet sighted point three two zero, two thousand meters out, north by north west, general quarters, general quarters, this is not a drill."_ James jumped out of the bunk and almost flew up the stairs into the bridge.

"Where is the fleet, and how big is it?" asked James as soon as he saw the admiral.

The admiral turned, grim faced, and said solemnly, "Fleet's almost up our nose, and as for the size, well let me ask you, how good can you swim?" James grabbed some nearby binoculars and saw the Federation fleet, they had crossed the T of their fleet and by his count there was four dreadnaughts, eight cruisers, sixteen destroyers, and thirty two landing ships.

Turning back, James looked at the fleet with them, two obsolete dreadnaughts, four obsolete cruisers, six obsolete destroyers and one carrier with only one wing and twelve guns. If the enemy proved hostile, they would need a miracle to get out of this.

_"Alert! Alert! New contact sighted bearing one eight zero south, dragon flight two wings inbound to the carrier, a purple dragon is leading them!"_ (A purple dragon!) thought James.

Then quickly, "Signal all ships 'Do not fire on that inbound wing' repeat it if necessary." "Aye, sir." Greagor turned curiously, "Professor, do you know something I don't?" "According to Shimmer, and several other dragons I've spoken with the purple dragon is a dragon of good and will never turn down a plea for help."

"I see, send one of our wing up there to talk to the leader and see if he'll help us." James nodded and got on the speaker that was wired into the dragon deck, "Shimmer, do you hear me? We've got an emergency here and I need one of your wing to take off and request assistance from the purple dragon. We do not know if the Federation is hostile," he was broke off by a shell hitting the destroyer _Valor_ and the resulting explosion made it clear.

"Scratch that the Federation fleet is hostile, all wing members prepare to take off, all ships to battlestations!" Greagor turned to James a little stunned, "Sorry; that's your line to say I believe."

Greagor smiled and shook his head, "If we get out of this alive, I'm putting a request that you be reassigned to the Navy as an officer."

"Not if we survive, Admiral, but when, the other dragons are attacking the Federation."

"How, we haven't sent out our request for assistance yet."

"Admiral, does that radio link back to the mainland?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Send a message back to port that we have been attacked by the Federation without provocation. That may get us any reinforcements that are nearby."

Spyro was almost too reluctant to leave Cynder after the storm had stopped, but if he was to establish diplomatic relations with this new nation, he had to leave not two minutes after the scout brought word of several ships flying the flag that had been identified as Syllia's flag.

Spyro was aloft with an escort wing of nine dragons, enough to convey importance but not threat (at least by dragon standards). As they approached the scout did a double take and shouted, "Oy! Since when can things made of metal breed?!"

Spyro raised his eye ridge, "They don't as I'm aware."

"When I left there were only thirteen ships, now there's over sixty." Spyro glanced down at the ships that were for some unknown reason moving across the Syllian fleet's line of travel, he briefly wondered what the purpose of such a maneuver was when the answer came like a shot, literally.

One of the huge ships in the center lifted one of the big metal tubes housed in a cylindrical structure, a huge gout of flame shot out and a few seconds later a small ship very close to the carrier exploded in a horrific cacophony of shieking metal and screams from the crew as their ship began to sink from beneath them.

Almost immediately, a siren blared from the carrier and a voice Spyro recognized as James' came over the air, _"Attention all personel, the Federation fleet in front of us is hostile, they just sunk the __Valor__ and she is going down, all gunners try to keep those dreadnaughts from firing aim for their turrets. Attention __Arkibus__ air wing, prepare to sortie to defend the fleet, the Federation has just declared war on us!" _

(War!) Spyro thought, he had fought in a war but he had no idea how they started and here he was about to land on a ship that had just been attacked. However, Terrador's training kicked in and he turned to his wing.

"Zataris, take Culin and Hurricoz to rescue the ones who's ship went down, all others with me, the _Arkibus_ must be protected!"

As the wings broke off, Spyro saw a huge door on the deck of the Arkibus open up and out of the door came five dragons, most adults, and one male that was Spyro's age. In a flash they took off, however the young male was flying toward Spyro.

Aaros didn't know what to think, on the one claw he was exillerated to speak with the purple dragon and request his help, on the other claw however, he was furious at Shimmer for excluding him from the battle, even though James had said _all dragons_.

Then again he was still on the young side and was not expected to fight any major battles, however, the fact that this was the start of a whole new war filled him with purpose. He _had _to reach the purple dragon quickly _then_ he could double back and assist the wing in attacking the enemy, maybe if he turned his wind element of those troop transports, they seemed flimsy enough.

Spyro and Cloudus saw the young male approaching and as he closed he yelled, _"Purple dragon, sir, we request you and your wings assistance in protecting our ship!"_

Spyro didn't know what to think, he had just given orders to save the ones in the water who were in danger of drowning, it had occurred to him to attack the hostile ships, but thought it wise to wait for a request and lo there was one coming. Spyro roared his answer so that his dragons and the people on the Syllian ships could hear.

"All wings protect the _Arkibus_ and if necessary, engage the hostile ships!"

A great roar of cheering erupted from the _Arkibus_ when the purple dragon replied to the request. In response, the other Syllian dreadnaught _Defender_ managed to turn and fire a full broadside of ten guns into the enemy fleet, whether by luck or divine will, two shells struck a Federation dreadnaughts fuel storage and sent the ship up like like a pile of oil soaked paper, four shells ripped through two transports engines and stopped them dead in the water, two more shells caught a cruiser at the water line and she went belly up in a matter of seconds, the last two shells hit the ammunition bunker of the lead dreadnaught and after a few seconds a fiery roar ripped the bow off between turret two and the bridge, the bow sailed forward by the blast and cleaved a destroyer in half, second later more explosions and the entire dreadnaught burst into flames and sank with only ten survivors being pulled from the water.

One of the destroyers, _Swift Aegis,_ was firing torpedoes left and right and sailed right between two transport ships and fired their small cannons swiftly disabling them, a round from a cruiser impacted the ship but it kept sailing forward, carrying on the fight. After three more volleys of torpedoes, however, a lucky round from the enemy's sole remaining dreadnaught punched a hole clean through the ship and the captain reluctantly gave the order to abandon ship.

James saw the dragons attacking the enemy fleet, there were blasts from all four elements damaging or sinking ship after ship, the most terrifying of all however, was the purple dragon. He came down upon the lone dreadnaught and with a roar, fired a beam of violet light that arced through the sky and then the beam crossed the tower bridge and it was cut cleanly in half, the smokestack was hit next, and it fell, the aft tower fell last. The top halves of the structures fell and hit the ocean.

The beam moved on crossing across several transports and sinking them in brilliant explosions. The battle raged for a few more moments, and then a destroyer fired three torpedoes before Shimmer destroyed it. The torpedoes flew through the water, right toward the _Arkibus_.

Spyro heard an alarm come from the _Arkibus_ a few seconds after he turned to look, three huge gouts of water and fire exploded from the ships right side, almost immediately, the ship started to list.

The sirens blared throughout the ship, Greagor and the Captain were trying to assess the damage.

"Shut watertight doors in compartments three, six, and ten; activate emergency pumps, and evacuate all crew from the lower decks!" shouted Greagor frantically; James was remaining calm and issuing the orders over the PA.

Then an idea came to him, he grabbed for the loudspeaker, "Attention, all wings; the _Arkibus _has been torpedoed, however we can save her, I need one or two dragons with the ability to use the ice element and freeze the holes on the starboard side, it is the only way to save the ship!"

Spyro heard and quickly he and a dragon that came from the _Arkibus_ flew down and, upon seeing the damage, used quick ice blasts to seal the holes in the hull. Then he heard the sound of cheering and turning, he saw the ten remaining ships retreating with various damage to them, the ships that were stationary had lowered their flags and had raised a white one. Since they had ceased fighting, he assumed they had surrendered.

As Spyro observed the sight, a white/silver dragon flew next to him, "Thank you for your assistance sir, we would have lost many more had you and your wing not come." "You're welcome, although I must admit I came to speak with a James de Launces. He is aboard the _Arkibus_ is he not?"

The dragon's mouth dropped,and he stammered before, "Yes, he is aboard the _Arkibus_, he's there in the bridge, are you to meet with him?"

"Actually, my mission is to establish relations with the Kingdom of Syllia, so I will be returning with you." Again, the dragon appeared startled, but quickly recovered, "Very well, follow me, sir."

James was below decks working on the pumps, cursing himself, (Of course during its first action _something_ was bound to fail or go awry, but why God did the _pumps_ have to short out while the compartment is still half-flooded!) he thought.

Angrily, he finished tightening the bolts fixing the wires, "Alright Chief, try her now!" The maintenance chief flipped a switch and with a loud hum, the pumps started working again.

Noticing James' scowl, the chief walked up to him and spoke gently, "Sir, don't you be too angry at the guys at the shipyard, the trials were pushed up without warning and something was bound to slip through the cracks."

"I know chief, I'm mad at myself; I am the man who brought the sea trial up and analyzed the data retrieved from the Federation. I should have forseen something like this, the moment the carrier idea was submitted to the council the Federation would try to stop it even if it meant declaring war, which they have basically done."

"I'll tell you sir, I've been in His Majesty's Navy for forty years, and I can say this, no one can predict when the enemy will show no more than one can predict the size or power of the next wave. I've seen tidal waves swamp ships of the line, and I was there during the Straits War when one of our new steel dreadnaughts wiped out an entire fleet section without so much as a scratch. I've seen the navy go from sail power to paddle wheels and finally steam engines. No one can predict what the next bend in the road is; all we can do is go with the flow."

"Though you have to admit sometimes it's better to fight against the flow, then follow it over the waterfall."

The old chief laughed, "Aye there is that, although even then sometimes you have to blast your own path."

"Although could you keep the blasting until we get back to port, my ship's barely holding together as it is." Laughed Greagor as he arrived, "God James, you look absolutely horrid covered in grease and oil, anyway, the purple dragon and his wing have landed and get this, he was wanting to speak to you, specifically." Leaving the pumps to the chief, James grabbed the ladder and headed back up the hatchway.

Spyro and his wing lounged upon the deck of the _Arkibus,_ the metal deck heated with the sun. A few moments later, a hatch opened up and out stepped a human that was dirty from the machinery down below, or so the other dragon Shimmer had said, the human wore a plain white shirt, blue pants with red suspenders, and black boots, his sleeves were rolled up and he was covered in grease and oil, however the most striking were his eyes, one was blue and the other silver.

Seeing Spyro the human smiled and walked over, his boots clanking on the deck. Shimmer got up from his spot, walked over and dipped his head in respect, the other dragons murmured among themselves at the sight of the human.

"Lord Spyro, may I present James de Launces, Count of Launces, Mechanist of Syllia and Professor of Military Science, Mathematics, and Mechanical Design of the Royalis Military Academy."

"Somewhere in there should be retired Brigadier General of the Syllian Dragoons, but I'm not one for formalities. So I hear that you came specifically to see me, I'm guessing that you are here based on my reputation."

Spyro nodded, "Professor, have you ever had a recurring nightmare about a large battle and then a large storm arriving?"

For a moment, James was dumbstruck, he quickly recovered, "How do you know about my nightmares?"

"I think that whatever is causing my nightmares is also causing yours."

"Funny thing, the nightmare is a repeat of an old battle, specifically, the Battle for Callen's Hill; I had nightmares about that battle for months, however after I married Lysa and my daughter was born, the nightmares ceased, however a few nights ago, they started again more violent than before. I think we had best finish this discussion in Launces, that way I can give you the whole story."

"James!" came Greagor's shout as he came running, "James, there is a traitor amongst the crew, he's down in the brig, bastard radioed our location to the Federation, and then sabotaged the pumps; when that didn't work, he tried to set fire to the munitions, a quick thinking sailor clubbed him while he was spreading kerosene everywhere."

"Damn, alright, get what munitions that are not hazardous out of the bunker, when that's done, seal the door and turn on the fire system, the water should wash the kerosene out but it will ruin whatever munitions are left, as for the saboteur, keep him in the brig until our return."

"I've also ordered the fleet to return to Sanijo, the _Arkibus _has performed to my expectations and furthermore, the chief tells me that only three of our surviving seven ships are still sea worthy, we have to return."

"Then d-does that mean I can stay?" They all turned to see a young fire dragon who had landed without a sound, looking out of breath and very tired.

"IGNITUS!" roared Spyro, both in shock and anger, "What are you doing here, your mother would have my head if she found out you had followed me into a battlefield!"

"I'm sorry father, but I wanted to go on an ad-adventure like you, I didn't know that there was going to be a battle."

James turned to Greagor, "Admiral, can the _Arkibus_ make it to the Southlands and then return to Sanijo?"

"According to the engineers, no; she's severely crippled and cannot stay at sea more than five days, round trip, we're looking at about two weeks, we will barely be able to make it to port from where we are now even with the patches and pumps."

Spyro sighed, "Alright Ignitus you can stay, Halern, can you fly back to Warfang and inform the guardians and Cynder what happened?"

"Yes,sir; although I may ask the guardians to inform Cynder; you're not the only one with a pregnant mate, and having to deal with one is enough."

"Fly well, Halern. We shall see you upon our return." As Helern took off, Spyro felt the engines start and the wounded ship started limping slowly back to port.

Chapter Three down, so, now the main characters have met, but are events in the war too far to reverse? I don't know about you but the suspense is killing me and I'm the writer!

Also, the destroyer reference in this chapter is dedicated to the heroes of Taffy-3 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in WWII, during which a small fleet of six escort carriers and twelve escort destroyers took on a Japanese fleet that included the super-battleships Yamato and Musashi, though Taffy-3 suffered heavy casualties, they fought so valiantly that the enemy commander thought he was up against Admiral Nimitz's fleet, though Nimitz at the time had his fleet sailing north going after the last of the Japanese carrier fleet. Nevertheless, Taffy-3 forced the Japanese fleet to retreat and secured safe passage for the Marines landing at Leyte.

Until next time, see ya next update! =D

..


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 is up, and sooner than I expected.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Spyro universe, I only own my OCs.

James sat at the desk on the dragon deck reviewing the photographs and file that Greagor had given him, as he looked over it, he heard a dragon come up behind him.

"What are those?" asked Ignitus, "These are photographs, pieces of paper that have images on them."

"Like paintings?"

"Sort of, photos only take minutes to take and develop, while a painting can take months."

Ignitus cocked his head to the side and stared at the photos, "What are those things in the photos?"

"Those are called zeppelins, they are flying machines that use hydrogen or helium to fly, Admiral Greagor has asked my opinion about the design and the numbers on this report."

"What's so special about flying gas bags?" asked Spyro as he walked up, the other dragons from the Southlands were with him as well.

"Zeppelins are relatively new inventions, however they have already proven their worth as civilian and military craft, though from the size of these models, they look ready for civilian market, however, the numbers suggest military."

"Why would they repurpose civilian zeppelins for war; they have no armor," asked Greagor as he entered.

"Sir, these are not repurposed models, they are brand new. If these numbers are accurate, our informant gave us more intel than we could hope for, by these numbers, each zeppeilin is roughly two hundred fifty feet long, fifty feet wide and thirty foot tall; this close shot here shows breaks in the cabin meaning this one is incomplete, one the other hand, this one is complete. Look at where the breaks are on this one and tell me what you see on the complete one."

Greagor took a magnifying glass off the desk and looked at the complete ship, "My God, those couldn't be cannons, could they?"

"I'm afraid so sir, these are war zeppelins, meant to be able to protect themselves from the Dracocorp, and also be able from the size to carry and land four hundred foot soldiers each; and if these numbers are correct, they are somehow building ten per month. These airships are meant for the sole purpose for invading and dropping troops and then supporting them from the air, essentially they play the same role as our Dracocorp only the airships are made of metal and carry large numbers of troops, even our fully grown dragons can only carry ten men."

"What do you suggest Professor?"

"I suggest we make all haste to Sanijo, the engines should still be good, push them; afterward I'll order the Leviathan to standby with the dragon cars. I may have a counter measure at Launces, however I will need Shimmer well rested so that I can get to the factories and get the machines working on the countermeasures."

Shimmer raised his head, he had been dosing, "So the dragons will ride in the dragon cars, when we reach Launces, you will get the blueprints, and I will fly you to the bases at Stahlhelm, Gylados, Victorus, and Royalis? Heh, just like old times."

"Indeed old friend, just like the old days."

"Wait a moment, I was under the belief humans and dragons were equals, yet you _ride_ dragons?"

"Not all the time, only when the threat of war is imminent, and any bit of intel could help us be prepared. Syllia hosts a fair amount of dragons but humans dominate the landscape, the dragons have their own government, laws, and cities. For a nation inhabited by two different species and co-exist, they must share things and understand one another, understand that even with our automobiles and trains and ships, dragon back is still the safest and quickest mode of transportation, a dragon won't suddenly stop flying all of a sudden and send you hurtling to your death, and there is nearly nothing in the air to crash into.

A dragon especially a military trained dragon can fly at greater speeds than anything on the land; cars and trains are bound to the earth by roads and rails and are set by what speeds they can go, a dragon on the other hand is not bound to any such laws, they can go anywhere they want to whenever they want to, that is what makes them fascinating beings. As for the union, the dragons were numerous yes, but there were not enough of them to stop an opposing army, when the dragons discovered how many humans there were and how we used our intelligence to create tactics and weapons, they joined an alliance with us, humans are the soldiers of the earth, the dragons are the soldiers of the skies, the alliance made during our "Steel Age" profited greatly, the dragons helped us build civilization with their elements, and we protected them using our tactics, within a century, the dragon population had nearly tripled, within human and dragon cities, castles were built for the females to guard their eggs and the humans guarded alongside the dragons; in our entire six hundred year history, only once did a hatchery citadel fall, the Battle for the Red Lagoon saw the destruction of the human garrison at Fort Lagoon and the destruction of over one hundred dragon eggs; that atrocity was what started the "Blood Wars" between Syllia and Tellanos, for over one hundred years our countries fought until finally, a detachment of dragons laid waste to the Tellanian capital and they surrendered.

As you are no doubt aware, you dragons have excellent memories, the lesson at Fort Lagoon taught the dragons that not all humans were good and instilled a hatred for _any_ who hurt young ones. In the Federation, it is a symbol of great honor to earn the title "egg-breaker", for they remember the Fort Lagoon slaughter as a moment of triumph over a stronger being. What they didn't count on was that dragons have a tendency to remember slights against them in great detail, the slaughter is no exception, as a result, first time parents are _forbidden_ to leave their eggs in a human hatchery city, however, cities that have a "home wing" are an exception."

"And Launces is at the top of the list of home wing cities," shouted Aaros proudly, "My egg hatched there and so did Captain Shimmer and his brother's eggs, in fact a home wing is comprised of dragons that have hatched at that city. Shimmer though is the wing leader not because of his age but because of the link between him and the Professor. You see sometimes a dragon egg or eggs as the case may be are presented to the ruling family as a request by the parents to be instructed in the culture and mannerisms of humans, or in rare cases when the eggs parents are killed, they are sent to a human hatchery and they become wards of the ruling family. Also when a human joins the Dracocorps he is assigned to a dragon to learn about us so that he or she knows what to expect. Both Shimmer and Pyre were the Professors assigned dragons, and they consider each other nearly like brothers; when the Professor became a mechanist, Shimmer and Pyre were assigned to Launces as the start of the city's new home wing. In fact when I find the right dragoness, I plan on placing them at Launces, because the Professor would never turn on us and Launces has the second biggest military garrison in the whole of Syllia."

"Well that won't be for a few more years whelp, so you best keep your head clear of thoughts of females while we're at war," growled Crusadus, the wing's earth dragon as he grabbed Aaros' tail tip and pulled him back.

It took Spyro a few moments to process what he had heard, the _humans_ were trusted by these dragons to guard their eggs, naturally the parents were also there but still, he had _never_ even allowed the moles, or even Hunter to stand watch over his and Cynder's eggs, if she had been here she would have flipped. He gulped, what would Cynder think if she found out he was going to a nation that was about to be at war, even worse, what would say when he returned with Ignitus? He shivered at the thought, it was one thing to face an angry female under normal circumstances, having to face her after she learns that her son had gone off on an adventure to a new country was an _entirely_ different matter. Still, he was glad to see Ignitus coming out of his shell, he was skittish when he first came on the _Arkibus, _when he got used to the humans however, he was quickly making friends among both dragons and humans, and was constantly running about the dragon deck and the ship. In the five days they were at sea, he had lost almost all of the shyness.

He couldn't understand how the humans were able to get Ignitus to warm up to them, the only dragons that Ignitus wasn't shy around was him, Cynder, the Guardians and Flame and Ember's son Ash. He laid down again and was about to dose off when a bell sounded on the deck followed by a voice over the speaker, "Land ho, port of call Sanijo straight ahead!"

The _Arkibus_ created something of a spectacle upon arriving, the dragons of the Sanijo home wing stared in shock at the damage done to the fleet, but the thing that got the most attention was the purple dragon and the wing of new dragons on the foredeck, the humans were surprised as well but theirs was focused on the damage to the fleet in particular the _Arkibus_ because of the holes in her side and her slight list to starboard. As the ship docked, the crew dropped anchor and used massive cables to tie the ship to the pier, upon disembarking, Spyro saw several humans with strange devices, and he went to have a closer look, then to his surprise, Ignitus barreled down the gangplank and looked right into the front of one of the devices, giving the human holding it a fright.

"Hey, watch it Jeeks, you break that camera it's coming out of your pay." Ignitus back up and watched the admiral and the professor address the people gathered before them, Spyro watched as well, then one of the devices flashed, and as if on que all the others flashed as well, only Shimmer's claw on his shoulder and the fact that no one was hurt kept Spyro from jumping off the ship.

"No worries, Spyro it's what the humans call the "press", a group of people who go about asking questions and writing the stories they hear for others, the cameras you see are for the newspaper, the big camera there is for the newsreels."

"Newspaper? Newsreels?"

"Yeah, the newspaper is a sheet of paper that humans read, it's like a book, only it relates to current or recent events. The newsreels are used in buildings called "theatres" and they are broadcast immediately. It's all very fascinating, why I've been in the news myself, and I suspect, you and your son will be too."

Spyro moved forward to watch the press, then they started asking questions, "Admiral, Amanda Keeting, Syllia National News," said one, a female, "a lot of us are wondering as to why your fleet is in such a state, and how did this happen?"

"Well, Ms. Keeting, about four days out to sea we encountered a fleet we believe belonged to the Federation of Tellanos, and without warning we were fired upon, we lost six ships in the battle and as you can see suffered severe damage to four more, we lost four hundred men but in the end we stopped the fleet, it is actually thanks to the timely arrival of the purple dragon and his wing on deck there that we survived the battle otherwise we'd have all fallen."

"I see and who is this young one here? He seems a bit young for combat."

"That's Ignitus and he's my son, and to answer your question he did not participate in the battle in fact he is not even supposed to be here," said Spyro as he jumped off the deck, back winged and landed softly, "I see and your name good sir?"

"I'm Spyro, the purple dragon; I come from what you call the Southlands."

"I see, then Lord Spyro, you have the gratitude of a nation for protecting a fleet of the Royal Navy." "You also have my thanks for bringing James back to me," said a woman as she approached, Spyro looked at her and stopped, she smelled like a dragon, but she looked like a human, beside her was another female this one smaller, but smelled the same.

"Lysa, Thera, you came to greet us!" exclaimed James as he ran over to them, he embraced the young girl and kissed the female.

James was ecstatic to see Lysa and Thera here, however he knew that he was going to get a lecture when he got home.

"Admiral, I'm going ahead on the Leviathan, I've got to get those blueprints ready."

"Go ahead, I've got a car waiting to take me to Royalis."

"Professor, what is this about blueprints," asked the reporter, "I can answer that ma'am, he has urgent business to deal with, the blueprints he is referring to is a weapon to defend against air attacks, we have reason to believe the Federation has introduced a new type of airship developed solely for war, these blueprints are urgent and must be put into production immediately."

"Admiral, are you saying there is a possibility for invasion?"

"It's possible, however upon seeing the strength of the Federation Navy, I'd say it is more than likely."

"Sir aren't you worried that talk like this could cause a panic?"

"An even bigger panic will ensue if we are invaded without warning, at least the news will have a chance to put the frontier towns on alert so be sure to put this story on the Frontier Express first thing in the morning."

"Is that a military waver, sir?"

"Yes it is, and since you heard _me_ say it you don't have to worry about signatures. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a report to make at Royalis."

During the press conference, Spyro, Ignitus and the other dragons had followed James to the train station, he heard a whistle and saw a massive machine arriving along the steel tracks.

"Spyro, Ignitus and other Southland dragons, I give you the _"Leviathan"_, the most powerful steam locomotive on the Syllian Intercontinental Railway, the single car there is a passenger car, the larger cars behind are dragon cars, cars large enough to fit six dragons each, plus comforts, if you need me I'll be in the forward car, just tell the stewardess and I'll be along shortly. Spyro nodded and watched as the doors on the dragon cars opened. As Spyro and the other dragons entered, they saw places to rest, tables in front of the seats, and other comforts that Spyro had never seen before. He looked in askance of Shimmer, but he was already lying down and speaking to a stewardess about 'roast lamb', Ignitus took a seat by the door, and Spyro tentatively followed suit.

A few moments later another stewardess, came to him and Ignitus smiling cheerfully, "Hello sirs, welcome aboard the _Leviathan_, I'm Susan your stewardess, and the Count has made instructed that you and your son can order whatever you wish as he's picking up the tab, the same as the other dragon cars. If you're not hungry or thirsty, let me know when you are."

To Spyro's amazement, Ignitus piped up quickly, "I heard Shimmer about 'roast lamb', what's that?"

Susan nodded, "Roast lamb is a dish called mutton, it is very popular with some dragons, although some prefer roast beef or chicken, and to drink, well we have water, tea, coffee, and for alcoholic drinks, beer, wine ,or spirits; although you have to be of age which in Syllia is eighteen."

"Oh, well I'm only seventeen, but I'm curious, what's tea and coffee?"

"Tea is a beverage served hot or cold, sweet or unsweet that is made by boiling tea leaves in water, the leaves release a syrup in the water and gives the tea it's flavor, coffee is a drink made by grinding coffee beans into a pot of boiling water, coffee is a drink best drunk hot to get the full enjoyment, although it can be cooled off if you worry about burning your tongue. If the spirits are to your liking, we have a keg of Northumbrian Whiskey on board and it is an excellent year." Ignitus thought for a moment, he looked at the menu the stewardess had and decided, "I'll try what Shimmer's having, roast lamb and to drink, I'll have tea."

"Do you want the tea hot or cold?"

"Hot please and sweet."

"Alright, and for you sir?"

"This looks good, what is it?"

"Roast Hog? It's a specialty that many dragons get, it is a whole wild hog, roasted and seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, and various other spices indigenous to Syllia. It is also our most plentiful dish since wild hogs and considered a nuisance animal and there are thousands of them, hunters are paid well to bring in the pigs."

Spyro nodded, "I think I'll try the Northumbrian Whiskey you mentioned."

"Excellent, I'll tell the chef. I'll have your drinks out soon."

When the waitress was gone, he heard Shimmer laugh, "What's so funny?"

"I heard you order the whiskey, all I can say is sip it don't gulp, that stuff is strong enough to make you think your innards are ablaze. Looking at her though, I wish I had that shape-shifting ability."

"You're in love with a human; How's that possible?"

"Same way one falls in love with another dragon, only humans are about half our size; if only I was a shapeshifter, however I am a light dragon. We cannot have the same luck as Lysa."

"You mean the professor's wife?"

"Yep, she's a shapeshifer dragon, a rare dragon like me however she has no elemental powers. She like so many other shapeshifters were looked down upon by the others, one day she was in human form and she was attacked by bandits, then hearing her screams, Count de Launces came from where he was mourning his parents and with his guards fought off the bandits; you'll have to get the rest of the story from Lysa or the Professor."

"She's a _dragon_?!"

"Yep, shapeshifters can change forms at will, they are not bound by normal boundaries. In fact their union was seen as a blessing, the union between dragon and man has been seen before, but this time it was a strengthening of the pact dragons and humans made, the fact they had a daughter brought humans and dragons closer than ever before. For that reason alone, even if I didn't already consider the Professor my best friend and a brother, I would lay down my life to protect him and his family. You're mated right Spyro? You know what it's like to want to protect someone no matter what right?" Spyro thought back to during the war when he had been chained to Cynder, and after that when she had laid Ignitus' egg; he would have done _anything_ to protect her, so yes he knew the feeling all to well.

One hour later they were flying down the line, Ignitus had finished his dinner and was watching the scenery go by. Shimmer looked at him and chuckled, "Never seen anything like that huh?"

"I've never gone this fast on the ground before and the land is so green, our land is beautiful too, but it's been ravaged by war, some day, I would like to see my homeland restored to this kind of beauty."

"Well you know this place _was_ a battlefield during the Syllian War."

"What?! B-but this place is so beautiful, so serene, there are trees, birds, rivers and fields. How is that possible?"

"It's all thanks to the human in the front car, the professor invented machines to fill in the trenches, trucks to move the bodies and assigned people to plant new trees, a place that would have taken years to return to normal was healed in a few months. His inventions have always helped or defended the nation, he is a hero and his bloodline has become second only to the king, normally by the time Thera, or Magothera, her dragon name, turned nineteen, she would have suitors lined up, but she inherited the shapeshifting powers of her mother so there would be no place for her in dragon society, but because she's part dragon, there is no place in human society, she's alone."

Ignitus sighed, "I saw her once she's gorgeous, I can't believe no one will court her."

"What kid, _you_ like her? If that's the case tread carefully, James won't mind, however, that girl has the love of her entire city and the nearby dragon city Talonis, you break her heart, you will have Lysa, the Launces Home Wing and two cities to deal with. I see that girl as my niece as do many of the wing, if you decide to pursue her, I beg you, do_ not_ hurt her; the last time she was hurt it nearly killed her."

Spyro watched with interest, his son had never displayed affection for a female, he hoped that Ignitus' effort would work, this could be the finale that would shatter his air of skittishness.

Ignitus looked at the stewardess as she came in, "Excuse me, but do you know anything particular about this train?"

"Why yes, as a stewardess, all employees of the train company are briefed on the locomotives we serve on, the _Leviathan_ is a modified version of the _Grandeur_ locomotive, it was made specifically to pull the dragon cars, due to its massive six-ten-four design, it was required to enlarge the frame, due to this the _Leviathan_ is the most powerful locomotive in the country if not the world, it has set the world record for speed, cars pulled and miles traveled and is the pride of the nation's railway service." Listening to her continue lulled Spyro to sleep, as he closed his eyes he saw Ignitus listening intently, and Shimmer was watching the stewardess longingly.

A sharp, long whistle woke Spyro from his slumber, he walked out of the dragon car to find the others, Shimmer's wing was taking off, Ignitus was speaking to Thera and Lysa, the Professor had already gone to the castle, and upon seeing him, Lysa smiled.

"So you are Spyro, your son has told my daughter and I much about you, I am glad to formally meet you, I am Lyseerah de Launces, and my daughter, Magothera de Launces. While James is away, you can make yourselves at home in the castle."

"But we're dragons, will we be able to fit in a human building?"

"You will; James had the castle modified after he found out about my powers, he was actually enthralled with the idea of having a dragoness for a wife. Most likely Shimmer has told you about how James and I met, truth is he was in a graveyard mourning his parents, he had lost them during the war, and when he heard my scream, he came running determined to stop a life from being taken after the war was over, sadly the brigands refused to surrender and were put down, it was nearly love at first sight the way he looked so dashing saber and revolver drawn his blue and white uniform illuminated in the day light, afterward I asked to repay my debt by becoming his apprentice, even in my city we had heard of the mechanical genius and I had wanted to meet him, he just happened to be working on a complex invention and needed my help. It took five months to finish it, and when it was finally complete, he proposed. By that time I was so smitten with him I couldn't say no; afterward I revealed my true form and he said, 'It doesn't matter if you're dragon or human, the way I see it, in dragon form there is more of you there is to love', I know it sounds corny, but the way he said it there on the balcony with the sun setting behind us, it just made my heart melt."

Spyro was stunned, just by listening to Shimmer and Lyseerah, he felt as if he knew the Professor better than before. Hearing the sound of wings above them, he looked up to see Shimmer flying past with a harness and a rider on his back. They would return soon, then another flurry of wings and Spyro looked at Ignitus, his face frozen in fear, turning around he saw why, standing there in all her glory, was Cynder looking almost like the 'Terror of the Skies' again, smoke coming from her nostrils, a massive scowl on her face showing all teeth, behind her was their daughters both worried for their mom, indeed looking closely Spyro could see perspiration on her scales, he took a step forward only for her glance to sharpen.

"Spyro, where is he? Where is that disobedient, inconsiderate son of mine?! I am gonna pound it into that thick skull that he, by the way, no doubt inherited from you, that he had no right to run from the temple like that even if the problem with the bullies got out of hand, he has no right to run off, he nearly gave me a heart attack, and the other guardians were falling over themselves nearly trying to find him?!"

By this time Spyro saw the tears in her eyes forming, without a word, he went forward and wrapped his wings around her, letting her sob freely into his shoulder and neck. Behind him, Ignitus was also tearing up; he had realized his rash action had forced his pregnant mother to leave the safety of the lair and take to the skies to find her son.

Chapter 4 done before dinner, wow what a closeout eh? In the next chapter, a romance blossoms, a fiery family reunion, and a massive pipe organ.

Okay, now then for you locomotive fans out there, the numbers I mentioned for the _Leviathan_ is standard code for steam locomotives, the first number is the number of small guide wheels on the front, the middle number is the number of large drive wheels, the last number is the number of trailing wheels on the rear of the engine, therefore the numbers 6,10,4, means the _Leviathan_ has six guide wheels, ten drive wheels, and four trailing wheels, (trust me that's a BIG locomotive).

Well until next update, please rate and review.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 is here, please read and review and also enjoy! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Spyro universe, only my own OC's.

Shimmer did a swift wing over as he soared over the land, he _never_ tired of the scenery as the country passed below. Even though Syllia had a mixed climate, he loved every acre of land that he saw, from the snow capped hills in the Protectorate of Northumbria, to the green forests of the southeastern city-states, even the desert surrounding Gylados and Reglan had their appeal. The wind that was blowing was cool with a hint of salt and moisture, he raised his voice, "We've just passed Peninsula City, we'll be in Stahlhelm shortly Professor!" "Amazing how you can tell our position just by the wind Shimmer," James answered; he had always been impressed by a dragons ability to locate themselves by either wind, scent, or both. Shimmer scowled, "It's not that hard, I smell smoke in the air, Dalon's factories are working at full blast, I _knew _we were near Peninsula City the moment I smelled the smoke."

James looked to his right, even from this distance he could see thick pillars of smoke rising from the city; Peninsula City was once the second most beautiful city in Syllia, however the Great Fire had destroyed part of the city and Dalon quickly bought the land and using his resources, built a massive factory in the middle of what used to be the town square; later smaller assist factories popped up across the city, the downside was that Dalon didn't believe in exhaust channeling, his factories had massive smoke stacks that sent _volumes_ of smoke into the sky cloaking the city in darkness, and covering the city in blankets of soot. Only ten miles southeast of Peninsula City stood Stahlhelm, the gate into the heart of Syllia, the city was named for the knight hero Gunther Stahl, who during the Steel Age had led the charge to retake Fort Lagoon, and in the process had felled over one-hundred foes. His zweihander 'Titanos' and his armor was on display in the city's town hall and was a symbol of pride for Stahlhelm, the city was built mainly using white marble and was considered as much a work of art as it is a fortress, James had built his factory well enough outside the city and it was the prototype of exhaust channeling, a process in which smoke was channeled from the furnaces and absorbed by cork wood stakes that were later used as fuel; this process kept the air clean and soot free.

Shimmer did another wing over that started him on the descent towards the factory, at that moment, he could make out a ground crew prepare a field for his landing, his eyes focused and he could see the factory overseer on the field looking up with a worried expression; obviously the news of the attack and possible invasion had spread this far south and people were scared. He back winged and landed softly on the grass; James quickly dismounted and with his briefcase in hand, ran toward the overseer.

"Milord, I just received the news of the attack, are you alright?" James nodded quickly as he strode through the door to the factory, at once he walked up the stairs to the catwalk and turned on the PA system, "Now hear this, all personnel, as of this moment this factory is to enter war-time production! I have several new blueprints that take top-priority as they are defensive measures against enemy airships, small boats and hostile infantry, the designation for the first is 'automatic machinegun model five or AM5' our ammunition line is to boost production of 8.5mm x 37mm ammunition as that is the caliber, the next is 'machinegun naval model 5 or AM5N' and uses larger 12.7mm/ .50cal x 40mm rounds; the final is 'heavy machinegun model 5 or AM5H and uses a completely new round, a massive .85cal x 45mm round, this is the weapon that will be used against the enemy airships, these weapons are going to the frontlines and thus are going to be built out of lightweight steel, these are the instructions of the armed forces and the king himself." The workers below stood still for a moment, then with a patriotic cheer, they went back to work trying to quickly finish the devices on the conveyer in front of them so that the machines could be reset and retooled. James then gave a reassuring nod to the overseer and with military precision, turned on his heel and ran back to Shimmer, Stahl helm had been the last factory to visit as it was the farthest from the Syllia/Tellanos border; with great skill he jumped onto the saddle on Shimmer's back and the two began the long flight back to Launces, by the position of the sun, they would be home by supper.

"Of all the ignorant, foolhardy, lamebrained, idiotic, and stupid ideas you could have acted on, why this particular one," screamed Cynder as she looked straight at Ignitus. Spyro cringed, he had _never_ heard this much fury and worry in Cynder's voice as he was hearing now, true it was not without good reason, hell, if _he'd_ known Cynder would leave home and come flying all the way here, he would have forced Ignitus to return home without delay, still what was done was done and Spyro could see behind their mother, Gia and Zephr were just as shaken, both with fear at their mother's wrath, and their own anger that their big brother would go off on an adventure and leave them out of it. Ignitus looked absolutely ashamed, he had not thought of the repercussions of his actions, but he has hearing them now. Behind him, Lysa, Thera and their guards had gone pale seeing Cynder land and immediately start berating her son. Finally, Cynder stopped yelling to catch her breath and Ignitus spoke up, "I'm sorry mother, but I, I had to come, I know I can't explain why but I had to. I didn't think you would be so worried as to come all the way here, and for that I am _extremely_ sorry, however, you yourself said I needed to learn about the outside world, and I remember dad saying the same thing, however I just learned that there is more to the world than just the Realms, I want to learn about these human lands and learn about this world, since I came here I've learned something of Syllian history, the bond between humans and dragons here, I've seen incredible machines and I've even overcome my shyness, I've even fallen in love! Here I am eighteen years old and I _still_ haven't started my own journey." Cynder looked fierce for a moment_, _then her expression relaxed, "Journeys," she chuckled, "your father and I didn't have _journeys_ as you call them, we were at _war_. I didn't want you exposed to the same horrors that we grew up in, I _certainly_ don't want you to go through what _I_ went through as a hatchling; even now I still have nightmares about being under Malefor's control, my constant torture at Gaul's hands, and worst of all, the horrors I inflicted. Your father can say all he likes that it was not me, however I live every day knowing that it _was_ me who nearly brought Malefor absolute victory during the war. Answer me this, how could I not worry after hearing that you had taken off after your father and then here that you landed on a warship during a battle?" Ignitus nodded, "You're right, however I can defend myself; I am not the hatchling that was attacked by a dreadwing." Cynder's expression relaxed, "I know, however as long as I draw breath, you will be my son and I shall protect you just as your father protected me." Ignitus, tearing up, ran toward his mother and embraced her, Spyro smiling, embraced his mate and their children with his wings.

A few moments later Cynder was looking at the humans with an interest that was like her old self, "Spyro, who are these people anyway?" Lysa stepped forward and bowed slightly, "I am Lyseerah de Launces, and this is my daughter Magothera de Launces. The others here are members of my personal retinue." "Wait, you're a dragon Lysa, why do you need guards?" Cynder looked shocked, "Wait, she's a dragon, like us?!" "Yes, I am and my daughter and two sons are the same, we are shape shifters, we prefer to blend in and quite frankly no good in a fight, when it becomes evident that a hatchling is a shape shifter, no effort is taken to train them in combat, our ability is looked down on sadly, by the other dragons, so we usually seek our futures in human guise. During my first months out in the world, I was attacked by bandits, had it not been for the timely arrival of my husband Count James de Launces, I would have likely perished or suffered a worse fate." "So, your daughter is a shape shifter too?" "Yes, show them Thera." Thera nodded and closed her eyes, a few moments later, a flash of light and when Cynder and the others opened them, Ignitus's jaw dropped, Thera's dragon form was beautiful, she was roughly Ignitus's height, she had a silvery gleam on her scales, her back had no ridges, however and her tail didn't have a blade, her jaw was not too narrow but was just enough to accent an obvious female appearance. Spyro noticed his son's enthrallment and chuckled, drawing Cynder's attention to her son's wide eyed, slack jawed expression. (Maybe this journey _is _the best thing for him), Cynder thought, (however, all the same, best to make sure he doesn't go too fast.) Thera opened her eyes and looked directly at Ignitus, he gazed at her eyes, they were slitted like a dragon's however, her eyes were a swirl of blue and silver highlighted by bright green. To his eyes however, that just made her more attractive, he stared so long he started to blush, the blush was showing even through his red scales, Thera seeing this averted her eyes and also blushed, red flaring up on her silver cheeks; to further Ignitus's blush and embarrassment, Zephr had seen him blush and suddenly started singing, "_Iggi has a girlfriend, Iggi has a girlfriend"_ Lysa, Cynder, and Spyro laughed loudly for a time until finally Thera took off, shortly followed by Ignitus. Spyro looked worried, "Should we go after them?" Lysa waved a hand, "Nah, let them go cool off; the landing space for the Home wing is in that direction so they will have plenty of eyes watching out for them, in the meantime, let me give you the grand tour of Launces, machine capital of Syllia."

Ignitus flew quickly over the city as he pursued Thera, he was cursing himself for his sister's lack of discretion. He knew now that if he was to hope for the future, he would have to speak to her now; the words that Shimmer had spoken on the train came back to him, _"If you decide to court her, I beg you, do not break her heart. That girl is considered family to all the dragons in the Launces Home Wing and I personally consider her my niece; the last time she was courted, it ended badly and nearly killed her, I'll not let that mistake happen again, not if I can do something about it."_ Ignitus could easily understand that if he were to hurt her, there was a chance that his father's mission here would fail. No matter what happened, he must _not_ break Thera's heart. A few moments later, he was her land in the field that apparently served as the base for the Home Wing. He gulped as he saw a few dragons he recognized walking around and take notice of Thera's landing. He followed along and landed behind her, "Thera, I'm so sorry, I didn't know that my sister was going to blurt that out." She stopped and looked long at him, "Do you really feel that way, I mean, you _are_ attracted to me aren't you?" Ignitus gulped, "Y..yes I do…I..I mean, do you believe in love at first sight?" She nodded slowly, "However, I don't put as much stock in love at first sight like I used too." "I..I know, S..Shimmer t…to…told me..about what happened t..to you." Upon hearing this, her eyes went wide and lit up, and she blushed brightly, "U..Uncle Shimmer told you about _that_?!" Ignitus nodded, also blushing as she continued, "Well since you know about that, then you _do_ know that as a shape shifter, the only _good _quality that would make me appealing to _any _dragon or human for that matter is that I am the _only daughter of Syllia's greatest mechanist_. That is the only reason others turn their heads, the ability to shape shift was useful when we dragons didn't know much about humans, but now that we know so much and are even allied with them, my talents are considered useless. That was the _only _reason I was rejected last time, the dragon I was with, he considered me more of a curiosity; once he figured me out, he left me for the fire breather that had been trying to get his attentions for _months_. I don't want to hear some pretty speech that you've rehearsed about how beautiful the setting sun glimmers on my scales, or how my eyes look like two beautiful pools or liquid silver. If you just want to _'butter me up'_ ,as the human saying goes, for a _little_ tryst or a one night stand, you can forget about it, I've been hurt before, and I will _never_ allow that to happen again."

Ignitus was surprised at the venom in her voice, obviously Shimmer had completely underestimated how badly she had been hurt. Still, he had followed her here and apparently, her rants had attracted the attention of the other dragons and dragonesses here, his mind raced to think of something to say, "I understand, however, I am not like that dragon in the least; In the Realms, once you confess your feelings and are bonded, breaking that bond is one of the _worst_ possible crimes; so I will not give you a rehearsed speech fun of meaningless drivel, I ask that you judge me by my actions, and not words, I am asking your permission to court you as _any _dragon with even a shred of honor should do, and see you for what you are inside and not based on what you can or cannot do. You can accept or reject my offer if you wish, however, both my parents fell in love by watching each other's actions, granted they were in the middle of a war, but still, I see you for more than a female with a brilliant father and mother, I see you as a female that, if given time, can become whatever it is you want; I could care less if you change shape, breathe fire, or can make stone explode just by staring at it, I want to get to know and court the _real _you."

Now it was Thera's turn to be speechless, she had expected a flowery speech full of false romance, but the fierceness in this new dragon who didn't know one thing about her had her stopped cold, looking into his fiery yellow and violet tinged eyes, she saw a dragon who would never give in and never say die, she saw for the first time since her rejection, a dragon who had the potential to be her mate and would stop at nothing to protect her from feeling that pain again, he was even willing to _prove _that she was more than just a conquest to him, a simple fruit to enjoy once and then discard, he heart fluttered, her mind raced, _how could she respond to something so obviously sincere_? However before she had time to answer, Ignitus looked up and following his sight she saw her Uncle Shimmer and her Father, returning. As he dismounted, she turned back and had an idea, "I..I really don't know what to say, if it were just me I…I don't know; however, if you wish to follow Syllian tradition, you will have to ask my father first, if he says yes, then and only then will I consider." With that he looked absolutely stunned, if she had, as Captain Havvers once said, 'struck him in the face with a hammer', she could not have gotten less of a reaction, however, to keep him interested, she kissed him, a quick but nonetheless fierce peck, and proceeded to walk past him brushing her tail along the right side of his body, she spared a small glance backward and winked,the result was surprising, had she not been in complete control of her emotions, would have dropped to the ground and rolled with laughter, Ignitus's whole face was blushing, his scales had lit up and had gotten five shades brighter, she glanced at her father and saw him about to start laughing, Shimmer and the other dragons stared at _her_ with complete disbelief, she had _never_ acted that way around any of them, even the dragon and dragoness who had hurt her were there and _they_ were frozen with surprise; ignoring their stares, she spread her wings and took off, sending dust into the air.

Ignitus froze for fear of moving, Thera's actions and words had a _profound_ effect on him, also the fact that nearly every dragon was leering at him, it was only when the Professor walked up and patted his shoulder that the other dragons went back to their previous business. "If you need to speak to me about something, I'll be in my study at the castle, in case Lysa didn't tell your parents, although I doubt it, I am giving you and your family use of the guest wing in the castle and freedom to go wherever you wish in the city and castle. For now though, let me get to the castle and clean up, I'll speak to you afterward." Ignitus nodded and watched James enter the vehicle that was parked there waiting for him, with a rush of steam and a short whistle, the vehicle took off down the road making a bee-line toward the castle. Ignitus meanwhile, took off, praying to the ancestors the cool night air would calm him down.

James entered the castle and was greeted by Lysa, Thera, who was still blushing, his two sons Nicholas and Joshua, and Jonathan Havvers, the Captain of the Guard, and one of James' old friends. His wife and sons ran and embraced him, Havvers saluted, and Thera looked away embarrassed. "Thera, would you like to tell me why you excited Ignitus?" Lysa, whipped her head and stared wide-eyed at her daughter, Havvers took a step back. "Well, Father, remember when you said if I met the right person it would '_click_', well, when Ignitus spoke to me, we clicked, however, I couldn't just blurt out in front of the others that yes, I would like him to court me, so I panicked." "What did you tell him?" "I told him it was tradition for the hopeful suitor to ask the father's permission to court his daughter." James ran his hand through his hair and whistled, "Thera, you really picked a heck of an old tradition, that sort of thing hasn't been done in over two-hundred years. That tradition is up there with presenting the suitor with an emblem emblazoned with the city's crest to identify him as a member of the ruling family." Again she blushed, "I'm sorry, but like I said I panicked." James nodded, "Well, I will speak with him tonight in the study, just please don't force the boy into a whirlwind romance, because take it from me, they never last." Hearing this, she nodded enthusiastically and ran off to her room.

Shortly afterward, James had showered, donned his house robe, went to the study and was reclining in his chair. Moments later, he heard a nervous cough and saw Ignitus hovering in the doorway. James placed his bookmark, and took off his reading glasses, "Ignitus, come on in don't be shy." Ignitus was skittish, but he obeyed coming in and lying down on the dragon mat in front of James. "Now then, would you like a drink, or would you prefer to get down to brass tacks?" "Brass tacks?" "Business, lad, and I believe the business at hand is why my daughter was acting like she was around you." He made his face unreadable although he already _knew _the reason. "P..Professor, I..I have c..come to realize, t..that is to say sir, I'm in love with your daughter, a..and I would like to ask your p..permission to court her; I understand that she was hurt before, however I..I assure you I am _not_ a dragon who simply sees her as a one night stand or a curiosity, I am genuine in my affections and true in my request." James was silent, he had expected something like this, although it was still surprising to hear it said. He stared at Ignitus for a while, acting like he was thinking it over. Finally, he smiled, "Very well Ignitus, however, you break her heart, you will have to answer to me; I will give you my blessing." Ignitus seemed to release a huge breath of air, James then laughed; Ignitus thanked him and turned to leave, then stopped and saw three books on the far wall. James raised an eyebrow, "Something wrong, lad?" "Professor, what  
are those three books there on the wall?" James heaved a sigh and got up to look at the books, "These books are what Thera calls my 'Nightmare Tomes', the white bound one is called the 'Auralis', the inventions in that book are machines that can be used for good, the red tome is the 'Crimsonas', that book's sole purpose is machines for military purpose, the machines in the white book can only be used if the military uses the inventions in the red book to defend the people." "What about that black book, why does it have a big clasp and lock on it?" "That book is the 'Grimoire', inside that book are the machines of nightmares, every nightmare I've ever had was centered around an invention in that book, as for the lock, those weapons are _not_ to be used under any circumstances the potential for evil is too great." Ignitus gulped at the mention of evil, he knew better than to press the issue and wisely thanked James and left.

James grabbed the key hidden in a hollowed out book in the studies liberary, fittingly, the book was titled '_Armageddon'_, for if these weapons were even built, James was certain that an apocalypse of epic proportions was soon to follow. He unlocked the book, opened it and gazed at the machines that he had added, they had started small one weapon was a metal tank of thickened kerosene called a '_flamethrower'_ that shot a stream of fire that would stick to _anything or anyone_ the fuel hit. The more recent one was a massive dirigible that could carry over four hundred tons of bombs and mounted several cannons and machineguns, the design had been called the '_Juggernaut'_ these inventions terrified those who knew that the plans existed. James sighed, locked the book back and hid the key, thankful that no pages were missing. As the clock struck eleven, he turned out the lights and went to the solar.

Ignitus quickly found Thera's room and knocked, after a few moments she opened the door, much to Ignitus's surprise, she was in dragon form and was surprised to see him, "Ignitus, what are you doing here at this hour?" "I..I came to tell y..you, your dad said y..yes. So, I c..came to a..ask, do _you_ like me enough to let me court you?" The answer came swift as Thera leapt forward and kissed Ignitus, unlike the last one this one was full and made Ignitus feel very warm. When they broke the kiss, Thera was panting, she then whipped her tail around Ignitus's front right leg and, "To the abyss with the courting tonight, let's have some fun big boy. With unnatural strength, Thera pulled Ignitus onto the dragon bed and he landed on top of her; by this point, Ignitus's blood was hot and his instincts were demanding he do _something_ right now. He kissed her again and gazed deep into her eyes; in those pools of molten silver, he saw the desire, the need, and who was he who had started this whole courtship to stop it now. One of Syllia's autumn storms had just begun outside, the thunder masking the sounds of their love, Ignitus considered teasing her for a moment, but apparently Thera had read his mind, "Don't you _dare_ just tease, if you won't make a move then I _will._" In an incredible show of flexibility, she wrapped her hind legs around his and pulled him in, all reservations went out the window at that point and Ignitus quickly gave into his instincts letting their love making continue long into the night before finally falling asleep in each other's embrace just as the clock in the foyer struck three.

Whew! Although it can't technically be called a 'lemon' due to the lack of explicit details, it is still a romance scene. Okay so after trying to word it properly I have finally revealed the mystery of the books, I don't know what I will put in the next chapter.

Also, just for a hint, the Grimoire is going to play a large part in the upcoming chapters, as are the weapons in it.

"Yez, und once I get mein hands on zat book, I vill become Syllia's greatest mechanist! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Dalon?! I haven't introduced you yet. How the hell'd yo get in here?!"

"You left ze bach door open."

"Well you ain't getting the Grimoire!" *Grabs the throwing axe on the counter and hurls it.*

"Ach! Vatch vere you throw zat zing, you could hurt someone."

Well, while I try to deal with this unforeseen problem, all I can say is plz rate and review. Now where did I put that damn zweihander?


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 is here and introducing, the human villain, General Gregory Dalon.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Spyro universe, only my own OCs.

Chapter 6: The Dark Mechanist

A low '_bong'_ sounded from the enormous clock in the office signaling eleven thirty, a massive autumn storm was sweeping across Syllia's western coast, not that it bothered the lone figure standing in the office staring out the massive window and overlooking Peninsula City. Gregory Dalon, ex-general of the Syllian Army, watched as the rain mixed with the smoke and soot that flew up from the smokestacks of his numerous factories that were within the city, the drone of steam powered machinery one of the few sounds in the streets below; Even during the day factory noises were the only noises to be heard, children didn't play outside, animals stayed in their owners houses, not even dragons flew over the city. Peninsula City was one of the few cities that didn't have a detachment of the Dracocorps Home Wing, Dalon had seen to that, he absolutely _hated _dragons, he couldn't stand their looks, their attitudes, and even went as far to say they smelled. He reached inside his coat and took a small sip from the old dented flask he had on him, then he produced one of the large Shildhaven cigars he was known to smoke and always seemed to have an endless supply on his person, the smoking was a habit he'd picked up when he'd been promoted to general, the drinking however was a habit from when he was stripped of his rank due to a rumor that he had been torturing Tellanian POWs.

Truth be told, it was more than a rumor, he _had _tortured POWs and had actually _enjoyed _hearing their screams, he was a sadist through and through, he was _never_ happy unless he was hurting someone either with a knife, his fists or even a gun, hell in the kind of mood he was in right now, there was no shortage of peasants and workers who'd pissed him off recently that he could challenge to a duel and kill and no one would object. First one of the factories goes on strike, then another kicks the manager out of the building and shuts production from one-hundred and forty-five percent to just under fifty and then they have the nerve to start taking hour lunch breaks and giving themselves raises from the standard three silvers a week to six silvers per _day_?! Upon that thought he made a note, '_In the morning, send Sabaton Mercs to crush the strikers and get the factories working again, lethal force is authorized and if the situation calls for it, preferred.'_ He quickly scratched out the last part, strikes like these usually _did_ end up with somebody getting shot, he could not shoot all his employees because then where would he be? The mercs just had to kill one or two to remind these fools who was _really_ in charge of this city, _his _city. That jellyfish Duke something-or-other, had taken the money Dalon offered to purchase the title of the town. The only thing about the town that disgusted him was that the Duke had apparently offered amnesty to some of the Tellanians, granting them jobs, houses, even steam cars to get to and fro; these foreign bastards were not even worthy of scraping the dried horse shit from his boots much less working in _his _factories, hell even his nemesis the so-called 'Mechanical Count' Professor James de Launces distrusted them, although the fact that the man had the gall to marry and sleep with one of those scaled monstrosities that were always flying about, even worse, he had produced _children_ with her, the very thought nearly made him vomit. What was worse, the council had _allowed_ it to happen as it _furthered the bonds and alliance between man and dragon_. If he had his way, the dragons would be driven off the continent and then exterminated like the pests they were. A low buzz from his desk distracted him.

"Excuse me, sir but there is a man to see you from Factory Nine." Dalon wheeled sharply, Factory Nine was the one that went on strike. He smiled wickedly as he reached for the revolver he kept under his desk, "Zend him in."

The door opened and was closed back quickly, a man in white shirt (poor choice) and faded pants and shoes walked in, he stood three feet in front of Dalon's desk and fidgeted nervously, "Sir, I am the representative of the Factory Coalition Union and sir, I am here to say t-that the Union has declared your factories u-unsafe for the workers. I sadly was the manager there and the conditions are as such that the factory c-can n-no l-longer profit. So sir the factory has been brought to a complete standstill with every worker walking off the line."

Dalon never took his eyes off the man in front of him, his patience had worn thin over the recent days and to hear that now the factories were shutting down because of some bleeding-heart fools who think they can band together, form a 'union', and call the shots; well he was about to send a message that it was _he _who was still calling the 'shots'.

"I see, und it is very disheartening to hear you say that, so if the factory is not producing the materials we need, how can I pay the workers? I can't; therefore sadly have to take this as your resignation. I do hope you understand."

The manager barely opened his mouth before two shots ripped through the air and turned the front of the man's white shirt red, he crumpled to the floor in a heap and signaled for one of the mercs who guarded his office. The merc came in and saluted.

"Take this piece of filth out back und dump him in an alley, make it look like a mugging gone bad." The merc nodded, saluted and hefted the corpse over his shoulder and walked out. A man in a black trench coat came in as he was leaving and stopped short of the blood pool. Giving a salute he smiled, "You're going to have to stop killing so many people who give you bad news, before long there won't be anyone else to kill except yourself."

Dalon laughed, "Well here's my bewilderment, if I, as you say, kill everyone I won't have anybody oppose me, on the other hand, if I don't kill someone every once in a while people may start to forget I exist and we certainly can't have that, it's not good for business. Now speaking of which, have you located what I asked you to?" The man nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, sir I did, the book you called the 'Grimoire' is in Castle Launces, however it is guarded heavily, literally. A young dragon named Aaros, and seven members of the castle guards including their captain Jonathan Havvers." Dalon went wide eyed, he had heard stories of Jonathan 'the Hammer' Havvers, a soldier in the Dragoons who stood nine feet tall, weighed nearly three hundred pounds all muscle, who had to duck and turn sideways to go through a regular door, and a soldier who always carried a Northumbrian Trench Mace and who's boxing and wrestling record stood proudly at 1,499 Kos, over 2,000 victories, and no losses. He held the record as the only human to wrestle a dragon and win, and was a war hero, receiving Syllia's highest national honor, the Paladin's Cross for single handedly storming and enemy trench with just his mace and sidearm, killing over sixty enemy soldiers while being shot six times before allied forces relieved him, the only soldier with half as many stories was Sergeant Henry Busser, who single-handedly held a shattered front line together with just his sniper rifle and bayonette during the last days of the war. Havvers was an untouchable legend, to harm him was paramount to treason and if his plans were to work he did not need to be hounded by the royal guards. Suddenly, he smiled, the corners of his mouth rising slowly as all the pieces fell together.

"I guess by the look on your face you have an idea?" Dalon looked up and grinned; "Indeed I do, and my plan involves you."

"You MATED with her?!" Screamed Cynder when she heard what Ignitus had done during the night. Spyro had mixed feeling while he was furious that his son had mated with the daughter of the human he was supposed to ally the Realms with, he also couldn't help but feel proud that his son had found a dragoness who he could be with forever. James, however remained neutral; he had been the first to be woken up that morning when one of the servants found Ignitus and Thera coiled up together with him _still_ lodged in her, it would have been funny if not for the reaction of Lysa and the castle guards, the one named Havvers looked especially angry.

After listening to Cynder's tirade a little while longer, James stepped up, "Enough yelling, it's eight in the morning and I've yet to have my coffee, what is done is done; don't look at me like that Lysa, I had given Ignitus my permission to _court_ our daughter, however under the circumstances, I'd say it was bound to happen sooner or later. At least their feelings for each other are genuine, unlike the last _suitor_, and I use that term _very loosely_, who only saw Thera as a sexual conquest. These two are in love and I by no means intend to interfere. Aaros, stand down I would do well to call you a porcupine the way you are bristling; in any case, I thought well enough ahead to make this last night during the storm. Ignitus, step forward." Ignitus was stunned, but stepped forward nonetheless.

"S-Sir," he began, but James cut him off with a gesture. "Do you remember about the tradition I told you last night?" Ignitus shrugged, the moment had left him empty-minded. "There was a tradition back during the Steel Age, when Syllia was divided into city-states and territories, Launces was once known as Wolveshaven, and the name of the castle was called 'The Wolves Den', during those times, if two or more territories wished an alliance, they would hold a betrothal ceremony during which, the prospective son-in-law would be presented an emblem bearing the insignia of the territory, the territory's ruling family, and the symbol of unity; last night I heated up the forge and created a new Launces emblem, since my daughter started this 'reviving old traditions' thing, I might as well carry it on, take a knee lad." Ignitus did as he was told and did the dragon equivalent of a kneel, James opened an ornate oak box and pulled out a shining gold emblem fastened to silver belts; the crest was roughly the size of a targe shield, in the middle was the Cross of Syllia (the nation's symbol), in the background was a dragon with its claws stretched out like it was holding the cross from behind (indicating the strength of the union), on both sides of the cross were two wolves, sitting with heads bowed (the wolf is the symbol on the Launces city flag and is seen as the symbols of loyalty, love, and fidelity), and ringing the emblem were nineteen stars (the symbol of Thera's age), when Ignitus and the others saw this emblem they all drew a collective gasp at the beauty of it, Lysa and Thera were the most impressed.

James drew a collective breath, he had spent all night forging and making this emblem, He'd had no idea he would be bringing it out so soon, however, he smiled inwardly when he saw his daughter's expression. It was then that what he was about to do hit James like a bag of hammers, he was about to declare his _son-in-law_, hell when news about this reaches the capital, he would probably be receiving a visit from Zakwell, his brother-in-law; the only dragon he'd ever met without a sense of humor. _(Well, no turning back now I suppose.)_ "Ignitus, your words have convinced me that your feelings for my daughter, Magothera Draconis de Launces, are genuine and without fault, therefore as Count of Launces and father of the bride, I hereby accept you into my home as family, as is such, you are entitled to request whatever you wish and if it is within my power you may consider it done."

Spyro froze, the Count of Launces was giving the chance to request an alliance with the realms, if he had learned _anything _about Syllian traditions, he knew that vows such as these were not given lightly, and even then they were rare. Ignitus turned to his father and nodded, "Milord, my one request other than your daughter's hand is that we could forge an alliance between my homeland, what you call the Southlands, and the Kingdom of Syllia, though the war against Malefor ended years ago, the scars are still present and the Southlands do not have the ability to defend themselves from a foreign enemy, this is my request, that through my bond with Thera, our nations can grow stronger and prosper."

For a while, James stood there with Ignitus looking him straight in the eyes, then slowly, he smiled and gave a solemn nod, "So you have requested, so shall it be done! Welcome to the family, my son." James bowed for a moment and stood straight again, every Syllian in the room dragon and human alike cheered, Spyro was stunned, though it might not have been intentional, Ignitus had opened the door into Syllian inner politics and had taken the first step to an alliance. He glanced over to Cynder who was trying (unsuccessfully) to hold back tears.

"So is this a union ceremony in Syllia," Spyro asked James later. James shook his head, "No this was a betrothal ceremony, the wedding will take days to plan. You see in Syllia, weddings are the most sacred of events besides communion and benedictions. The Silver Castle is where the archbishop and Syllia's religious leader lives, once per week he steps out onto the balcony and to a massive crowd gives the gospel in Ancient Syllian. Religion wise, Syllians believe there is only one God who created everything and that by praying to him can we be saved. The story goes that the first humans sinned, and were cast out of paradise, after many centuries of wondering through the land, God spoke again and said the only way to return to paradise is to pray and ask for forgiveness, the sins of the parent are reflected upon the child, however the child is not bound to the sins. Children are born pure and sinless, as adults we do things we shouldn't and we have to atone for them. Only through atonement can we be redeemed and see our loved ones who have gone before us."

"Do you believe in such things?" Spyro asked James. James sighed, "In honesty, I believe those who were killed in the war, my parents, siblings, friends and comrades are somewhere watching us, hoping we do the right thing. My parents and siblings were executed when Launces fell, they gave their lives to ensure my escape. At first I wondered why would a merciful God allow such a horror to happen, but then I realized that they are safe from harm and war and some day when I die, I will join them. That is my belief. Come, I want to show you all something."

James led everyone through the castle to an old wing that stood slightly apart from the others, the floor by the walls looked the same as the other floors, but the center of the room was decorated with silver tiles and in the back were massive pipes that shot from the floor. Spyro gasped, "What is this place?"

James smiled, "When I was young, my mother would host incredible balls and parties in this room, when I liberated Launces from the Federation, this was the first room I came to; I sat there in my father's throne and wept for hours releasing the tears I had built up for years. When the war was over, I'd thought to destroy the hall and with it my memories, however I had a dream, in this dream I saw me dancing with a beautiful woman and all around me my family and my friends I had lost in the war were laughing and cheering and dancing. I decided instead to use my inventing talents to rebuild it, however, I had no inspiration, one day I took a few of my guards to my parents tombstones to pray for a revelation, as soon as I said 'Amen', I heard a woman's scream and took off to find a woman being attacked by bandits; I charged down the hill and with the help of my guards, dispatched the brigands and offered the woman safety. Later, she became my assistant and later my wife, the night I proposed to her, I had that dream again, this time the woman I was dancing with was unmasked and it was Lysa; the fires of invention were lit and I used Lysa as my muse, three months later was our wedding ceremony and I invited all the guests into this room, my masterpiece, the Hall of Music; watch."

James pulled the levers that were by the door and the hiss of steam could be heard, Spyro could swear he saw the floor tiles rise up some. Then, James held out his hand to Lysa, who took it in turn and as they stepped out onto the floor and started to waltz, the most beautiful music Spyro had ever heard started playing from the pipes in the back. "The Hall of Music," started James, "is the world's third largest pipe organ, and the only one that has a triple key configuration, every tile is a key to the organ and depending on what song is decided, the tiles change notes accordingly, the more people who are dancing, the richer and more vibrant the music, and furthermore, because the tiles change notes, the song is never off-key. This is my tribute to my parents and friends who died, I live life to the fullest because they never got to live theirs, they never got to see the world we're in now, the peace their sacrifice bought us, but I know that they are here in spirit, watching us and smiling and I know that my parents were always proud of me, genius or not, and that is worth more than money, fame, or respect. Spyro smiled and nodded, he remembered his old mentor Ignitus who had perished in order to see Cynder and him safely to the Destroyer.

Suddenly, the music was drowned out by a high pitched whine; James quickly shut down the organ and listened for a moment, then, "Everybody out, Lysa, get everyone to the safe room!" Lysa nodded, a look of panic on her face; Cynder had never seen the humans afraid before and from what she had seen so far this was _not _a good thing.

"James wait, what is that noise?" Spyro shouted but James and Havvers were long gone. Instead Lysa answered his question.

"It's an siren, the purpose of it is to alert the people that we are under attack, all non-combatants are to go to areas called 'safe rooms' and wait out the attack, however we have had drills before, but the siren is supposed to stop after a while and we can all go back to normal." Just as she said this however, James reappeared pale as a ghost. "James what's wrong you look positively afright." James looked up at Lysa and all the others with him.

"This is not a drill, the Federation is invading."

CLIFFHANGER! ;D Seriously though I thought it was about time to put some action in the story, also thanks to you guys who suggested I spread out the speakers in the story, it really does look better, also what do you guys think of the Dalon? I created the character to be the complete opposite the main human hero. Also the mention of Dalon sending mercenaries to his factory was based on the 'Homestead' strike of the Industrial Revolution, when the Carnegie Steel chairman sent a private mercenary force to end the strike at the Homestead steel mill; however the mercenaries opened fire without warning and fired into the crowd of unarmed civilian workers, the shooting lasted roughly 30 minutes and at the end nine workers lay dead and dozens more were wounded. The shooting resulted in new laws particularly resulting in the banning of mercenaries as private police forces.

Also as a foot note, in the last chapter I mentioned a few of the weapons in the 'Grimoire', to let you know, the first flamethrower was built during WWI, though they were too bulky to be deployed in mass numbers, the super zeppelin idea also fits because zeppelins were used heavily for recon and bombings, plus I got the idea for superweapons from a game called 'Warship Gunner 2' by Koei, it is a great game.

So until next time, please rate and review. By the way a poll will be going up for a while as I write the next chapter, which do you think would be cooler to see: James de Launces as a bi-plane pilot, James as a tank commander, or both? PM me or review to let me know. :D


	7. TLoS: Metal Storm Tech Guide

Hi there! LauncesMechanist here, sometimes the best way to enjoy a story is to be able to visualize the scene in question, from the words all the way to descriptions of the character's clothes and weapons. The decription for the upcoming battle scene is basically the Syllian and Tellanian uniforms and weapons.

Author's intermission: This is NOT a chapter in the story, it is an info sheet to help the reader get a feel for the VAST difference in technology between the two main countries; Syllia's technology thanks to the mechanist James de Launces, their tech level is on par with pre-WWI tech, as compared to Tellanos which is using post Spanish-American War tech, the only area in the Federation military that is on par to Syllia is the Navy which uses ships based on German and French Navy designs from WWI, while the Syllian Navy uses designs based on British, American, and Japanese Navy WWI ships. The only other area where they are on par is the air force, while Syllia uses a combination of dirigibles and dragons, Tellanos only uses dirigibles, but theirs are bigger, armored, and they have already designed parachutes so that the dirigibles can carry infantry quickly to the battle and drop them where they are needed.

Also during that time frame (1870-1945), there was no such thing as standardized military ammunition, you might have one weapon that uses for example, a rifle that uses .30-30, and another that uses 7mm, a pistol that uses .45 or another that uses 9mm, a shotgun that uses 12g, and another that uses 10g or 20g. International calibers such as England's .303, Germany's 8mm, France's 6.5mm, and the US .30-06 were used in various weapons of that era. The first standardized international ammunition was NATO 7.62 and 5.56.

Syllia:

Standard uniform (Army/Dracocorps): The standard uniform is a blue dress shirt, a deep blue wool trenchcoat, blue pants, black boots and gloves, body armor is basically a silver cuirass, brassards on noth arms and gauntlets on both hands, steel greaves that fasten over the boots, the helmet is a steel cap with several steel plates protecting the back of the head and a flip down face guard( picture TMNT's Shredder's helmet without the spikes and blades)Officers usually wear black leather capes, weather gear for all soldiers is either heavy leather trenchcoats or heavy leather capes with hoods.

Weapons: Syllia's weapons are a mish-mash of traits from historic firearms, their bolt-action rifle for instance has the Russian Mosin-Nagant's barrel length(32inches) , the British Lee-Enfield's design style and ammo capacity(10 rounds), the German Mauser 1871/84's power(11.15 x 60R), the American Springfield 1903's curved bolt, and the British-style saber bayonette. Special weapons used by NCO's are shotguns based on the American Winchester Model 1897 Trench gun, a pistol based on the legendary Colt M1911, or a bolt-action rifle based on France's Daudeteau 1879, using a 33 inch barrel, and uses the Italian 10.35mm, and has a massive 20 round clip. Their standard enlisted sidearm is a take on the American Colt Model 1873, the officer's sidearm is a take on the classic German Mauser C96 Broomhandle. Melee wise, the enlisted are issued K-BAR knives or maces and the officers have longswords.

Tellanos:

Standard uniform: The Federation enlisted uniform is basically a suit of armor, while the officer's uniform is a green coat, black pants, boots, and gloves. The officers do not wear helmets, instead only wear caps or berets. The officer's armor is a 'bullet-proof' vest made with several layers of silk, cotton, and a piece of steel over the heart. The vest is worn under the uniform and is very heavy and bulky, plus it only protects the front but the officer can still be shot in the back.

Weapons: The Federation's weapons are again a mish-mash of historic weapon traits but with a completely different style and are horribly obsolete when compared to Syllian or even Shildhaven weapons. The Federation's rifle is bolt-action and the body of it is based on the old Norway Krag-Jorgensen Carbine with a barrel length of 16.5 inches. Its caliber is based on the Japanese Arisaka Meiji 44th Year (1911) rifle (6.5 x 50mm), its ammo capacity however is low, only holding 3 rounds in the side box magazine. Special weapons used by NCOs are based on the British De Lisle Carbine with a barrel length of 8.25 inches, it fires a .45 pistol round, and has a 10 round magazine. Officers are issued a pistol based on the Bavarian Werder Military Pistol 1869, it has a 15inch barrel, a caliber of 11.5mm, however the design only allows the pistol to be single shot, however, the enlisted and NCOs have a pistol based on the German Borchardt Pistol 1893.

..


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 is up; in this chapter I will be using a telegraph letter to give a communication perspective. To sum it up a telegraph letter is generally in all caps and is sent and received in short bursts the period is present to indicate the break or STOP in the message.

An example:

I AM LAUNCESMECHANIST STOP

I AM A MEMBER OF FANFICTION STOP

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Spyro universe, only my own OCs.

Chapter 7: A Snowball's Chance

The clock struck nine o'clock in the morning, a few seconds later, a man entered the office. He stood six foot even and was dressed in the blue uniform of the Syllian Army, the cross and four stars on his shoulders instantly showing the man's rank as Lord General. General Williams was not considered a strict man, he had been in the service since he was fourteen serving as a drummer and flag bearer, now he was in his sixties and fondly reflected on those days, he had made general the day before the Syllian War began and by its end he had taken General Dalon's place as Lord General of the Army; he took off his cape and trenchcoat and set his hat on his desk, shaking his head at the amount of paperwork on it. (Apparently, a cold is not a good enough excuse to stop the paperwork from piling up), he thought; however just as he sat down, the doors flew open so fast the handles punched holes into the wall behind them, a young officer, lieutenant's bars on his shoulders, stood panting in front of the desk with a message in hand. The officer, no older than twenty, took a breath, stood and passed the letter to Williams, who as soon as he read it, leapt to his feet and ran out of the office, the young officer hot on his heels.

The letter was as such:

SIGNAL 14D MORSE LINE ALPHA RED COMMUNICATION SYLLIA: LAUNCES/ROYALIS, REGLAN, PENINSULA CITY, SANIJO, PORTHOS, GYLADOS:

FEDERATION FORCES INVADING THROUGH NW PASSAGE. WAR DERIGIBLES ATTACKING BY AIR. MOST RECENT COUNT OVER FIVE HUNDRED. FED TROOPS ARE PARACHUTING OUT OF AIRSHIPS OVER ONE THOUSAND ON GROUND. REQUESTING IMMEDIATE REINFORCEMENT FROM ANY NEARBY BASES. URGENT. HOME WING KEEPING THEM OUTSIDE CITY. DRAGOON GARRISON WEAKENING. REPEAT: REQUESTING IMMEDIATE REINFORCEMENTS FROM ANY NEARBY GARRISONS.

MESSAGE SIGNAL TYPE: DISTRESS/RED ALERT

AUTHORIZATION: GRANTED/EMERGENCY CLEARANCE

BGEN. JAMES DE LAUNCES, COMMANDING OFFICER

DRAGOON CORPS, LAUNCES GARRISON

"Did the message get through?!" shouted James over the sound of cannon fire. The attack had so far been going on for forty-five minutes, the Home Wing had lost three out of twenty dragons, the stationed garrison however had already lost two hundred out of three hundred fifty and the enemy had breached the first wall and were bombarding the second. The Federation had lost only ten airships out of the five hundred that were overhead. The Skauss rifles on the city's inner walls were doing a good job, however they were not getting the amount of fire in the air they needed, the rifles on the castles ramparts and bastions were of too small a caliber to reach the altitude that was required, most of their shells were either blasting too far short or were falling back onto the streets; thankfully so far no fires had started but all it would take is one stray shell and BOOM, instant inferno.

The telegraph operator nodded and pointed to the green light indicating 'message received' within moments replies started arriving, however, bad news was received.

MESSAGE REPLY FROM ROYALIS HIGH COMMAND:

ROYALIS SENDING REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVAL VIA AIRSHIP IN TWO HOURS. DRACOCORPS REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVING IN HALF HOUR. PENINSULA CITY/ SANIJO UNDER ATTACK AS WELL. MULTIPLE AIRSHIP SIGHTINGS. SANIJO FIREBOMBED ENTIRE CITY DESTROYED MASSIVE CASUALTIES CIVILIAN/MILITARY. PENINSULA CITY SUFFERING HEAVY DAMAGE SEVERE CASUALTIES CIVILIAN. PORTHOS/REGLAN ASSISTING SANIJO. GYLADOS MOVING TO REINFORCE PENINSULA CITY.

YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN.

MESSAGE SIGNAL TYPE: DISTRESS REPLY

AUTHORIZATION: GRANTED

LDGEN. THOMAS WILLIAMS, COMMANDING OFFICER

SYLLIAN ROYAL ARMY/DRACOCORPS

James cursed aloud as he read the letter, so the Federation was tired of being subtle, they think torching civilians will win the war for them? James was determined to make them dead wrong, or at least dead. He ran to the officer in charge of the garrison and told him the news.

"Milord, do you have anything in the workshops or the warehouses that could help us? The Dragoons are good but all we are is armored infantry armed with bolt-action rifles." James thought for a moment, perhaps there was something he had forgotten in the rush to get the city battle ready. Then he remembered that he had built several prototypes of the machineguns on his blueprints.

"The castle armory has a few prototypes of some weapons I made; however, warehouse nine has even more weapons to give us a chance. Without those weapons we stand a snowball's chance in hell. I need ten soldiers to go into the armory and get those weapons, then use a steam truck to get those weapons to the third wall." The soldier nodded and selected ten recruits from the volunteers and James went with them to the elevator in the foyer. When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, the volunteers gawked at all the machines in the room, there were machines in pieces or complete, there were blueprints on desks with the devices next to them; some of the devices were marked with red or white marks then they saw several machines that looked like rifles, however they were longer, had a piece of steel on the side, some had cylindrical tubes that went over the barrels and others had handles on the barrels.

"Alright, grab those machineguns on the wall, load them into the elevator and grab as much ammo as you can. Dietrich, Maxwell, you are the ammo-haulers, see those square cans there? Those cans hold the bullets for these weapons, I want you to grab every one of those cans we can do without one of those guns but the ammo we cannot do without." The volunteers grabbed all twenty weapons off the wall and all the ammo cans roughly forty cans each holding two-thousand bullets.

As the lift stopped at the foyer, James saw Spyro in the foyer wearing dragon armor marked with the Dracocorps emblem. When Spyro saw him, "I want to help fight. My family is here now and I'm not one to stand aside."

James nodded knowingly and asked if he would help them get these guns to the truck outside. "Might as well, then I'll go help Shimmer and the others."

The volunteers and Spyro quickly got all the guns and ammo in the steam truck and James sat behind the wheel. With a flap of wings, Spyro took off, headed for the airships that were now over the second wall.

"All volunteers, get in; it's time to haul ass!" James shouted and quick as a whip the volunteers piled in the truck. James pulled the lever that released the brakes and with a _whoosh_ the truck started off, since it was a straight shot to the third wall, which was where the remaining militia and Dragoons had gathered, speed was not an issue, for the first time in his life, James pushed the throttle to full and watched the speedometer shoot past 50 mph. Within a few minutes, they reached the third wall and offloaded the weapons. James quickly showed the gun crews how to set up, load, and fire the machineguns; then he himself got a crew and set up one of the newer air-cooled machineguns on the wall section over the gate and started to load the gun.

"Alright, Mac, you feed the ammo into the gun and keep an eye on that barrel, when it gets hot, it's going to start turning red and smoking, when that happens you let me know and I'll stop firing long enough for you to change the barrel, just grab that handle, jerk it left and pull the barrel out. To replace, push the new barrel and push the handle to the right to lock it in. That's all. Thomas, you're my spotter, you see anyone getting too close, tap me on the shoulder, I'll turn the gun on 'em." Once everyone was ready, James spotted the enemy line beginning to advance, it was gratifying to see the Dracocorps doing a good job in stopping the airships, Spyro had already destroyed five and Shimmer was up to seven. Then, the enemy crossed the line that James was sure the maximum range of his gun, he paused waiting for them to come closer, then, on his signal, the small cannons opened fire and the shells clearly impacted the massive groups of infantry, then as expected, they charged and quickly got into range of the machineguns.

James smiled grimly as he saw them get into range and when the cannons were reloading, yelled at the top of his lungs, "FIRE!"

Spyro had just sent another gout of fire into the airship when he heard a roaring noise on the ground; sparing a moment, he looked at the wall and saw little red flashes flying into the enemy group. What shocked him however was that there were more bodies dropping then there were red flashes hitting them. For a moment the enemy advance faltered, but then picked back up; this time however the front line returned fire, small poofs of stone dust appearing where the bullets hit the wall. The ground war was going well, however the air war was picking up, when Spyro turned around, more airships appeared and more parachutes were falling out of the side. Some of the younger dragons in the Dracocorps had made a sort of game, the soldiers in the parachutes couldn't fight until they landed due to their armor and the size of their weapons, so they were easy prey, the young ones would swoop down and flame, freeze, or electrify the parachutes, sending the humans hurtling to the ground. Even when they landed they were not safe, they still had to cut themselves out of the straps and the few earth dragons there used their powers to create hazards for landing like earthen spikes that shot up from where they were standing, and also created pitfalls for the soldiers who were running to join the main force. Shimmer being the only light dragon here, was focusing solely on the airships and was taking out two at a time or severely damaging them. Turning around, Spyro flamed another airship that was floating just below him.

James hadn't moved from his gun and hadn't pulled his fingers off the twin triggers of his machine gun, he'd noticed when they had opened fire, the enemy had faltered for a moment, but then picked up the pace trying to get to the wall, the machineguns and cannons had bought the infantry enough time to finish stringing razor wire, laying mines in front of the wall and placing a barrier, behind which the riflemen were now taking pot shots at the encroaching enemies. Then Mac tapped his helmet, and he released the trigger and saw the barrel was glowing. Mac popped the cover and grabbed the handle and yanked it out, the barrel brushing his pants.

"Holy shit, that's _hot,_" he exclaimed.

James turned, "No shit, buckwheat I just put twenty-two hundred rounds downrange, of course that barrel is gonna be hot! Just get that other barrel put in 'cause here they come again!"

"Good Lord," exclaimed Thomas, "these bastards are just like a bad case of roaches, no matter how many you put down more rise up!"

"Well, look on the bright side, kill enough of them and we'll have another wall between us and them," said Mac, "besides, at least we don't have to worry about enemy artillery."

Suddenly a whistling sound was heard overhead, James immediately knew what it was, "Hot buttered biscuits; _incoming artillery_!" A few seconds later a volley of six shells impacted the far side of the wall.

"Those sons of bitches;" a soldier next to them exclaimed, "they're using our own guns against us!"

Thomas turned to face Mac, red-faced, "You see what happens when you tempt fate?! _Never_ say 'at least it can't get worse' because it will _always _get worse!" A few moments later, the garrison commander appeared.

"Milord, it's too dangerous here, we're getting you off the line and back to the castle." James went red-faced and turned to face him.

"The hell I am; I abandoned this city once before and that was only because my older brother knocked me out and had Bertram and some of the other servants carry me out through the back, I swore that I would _never _abandon my people or my city again, especially not to the same bastards who committed those atrocities." James then remembered some other inventions in the warehouses; one was behind the third wall next to the Dracocorps field and the other was in the agriculture area between the second and third walls.

"I have an idea that might save our asses, however, I'm gonna need a few good men." However, as soon as he said that, a scout started waving his hands wildly. Looking where the scout was pointing James saw a dirigible flying in from the south, on its side was an emblem James recognized, a red shield emblazoned with a black dragon, the Blackguard Mercenary Corps, General Dalon's personal mercenary force, were coming. A few moments later the telegraph went off wildly, the operator quickly read the message.

EMERGENCY SIGNAL LINE C9 SYLLIA: PENINSULA CITY/LAUNCES:

PENINSULA CITY SECURED. MOST ENEMIES CONCENTRATED IN YOUR AREA. BLACKGUARD MERCENARY CORPS TO SECURE AND PROTECT THE REAR. ALSO THERE TO PROTECT CIVILIAN SAFE ZONES. EXPECT MORE REINFORCEMENTS WITHIN THE HOUR. HELP IS ON THE WAY.

MESSAGE SIGNAL TYPE: GENERAL

AUTHORIZATION: GRANTED

GREGORY DALON, FOUNDER,CEO, DALON STEELWORKS

The garrison commander shook his head, "Sir, what do you think of this?" James shook his head. "I don't know what to think, I know I can't turn away help, however, I also know I cannot trust them. The Blackguards do not exactly inspire confidence and trust, especially with their beliefs that collateral damage and civilian casualties are all 'part of the job'," James thought, then snapped his fingers, "Send a few soldiers to them to act as 'liaisons' with them and to make sure nothing goes wrong, I believe five should suffice." The commander nodded slowly and pointed out five soldiers and told them their job, then he picked out roughly twenty men and told them to go with James to the warehouse.

The airship slowly descended next to the castle courtyard and several mercenaries disembarked from the airship. One of the officers turned to his men.

"Alright listen up, Teams One through Four are to stick to the plan; Team Five, your job is to enter the library and steal the book the boss wants. You guys _do_ remember what it looks like?"

The mercenaries of Team Five nodded; unlike the other teams they were not wearing the Blackguard's traditional uniform; instead they were wearing uniforms similar to Tellanian uniforms, the clincher in the deception were the Federation pistols they were using, and the masks hiding their faces.

"Remember, the boss is paying us our standard pay for the protection of the civilians, however, he is paying us ten times that amount for us to steal the Professor's Grimoire and make it look like the enemy stole it. While the professor and the rest of the military tries to get it back, ol' Dalon will be memorizing the book and monopolizing its contents." The 'Federation' team nodded and donned their masks as they advanced from the dirigible to the lower entrance to the castle. As the mercenary leader turned, a loud roar erupted from the depths of the castle.

Cynder was in incredible pain, all the excitement and her forced flight to Launces just a few days before must have done more harm than she could have imagined as her belly contracted again, she roared louder than the first. Around her, with fearful looks were her children, and even further back was Lysa, Thera and the castle staff.

Ignitus slowly approached, however, the edge in his voice was frantic; "Mother, what's wrong; what's happening?!" Cynder saw her son and growled low and then clenched her teeth.

"The egg is coming!" Ignitus and everyone else's eyes went wide. Immediately, however, one of the servants was there at her side.

Lysa saw Bertram approach Cynder and she was worried; Cynder was a dragon from the Southlands, she would not know or possibly allow a human or another dragon to get close when she was in obvious labor. However, Bertram knew what he was doing; having served the de Launces for over fifty years as a butler. He had started a gardener and worked his way up thanks to his diligence and some of his positions included: chimney sweep, waiter, he also had some knowledge of veterinary practices, and of course had served as a surgeon during the Straits War and the Syllian War, and also was a leader in modern dragon anatomy and pediatrics. As soon as he reached Ignitus, she was sure he would be fine.

Bertram looked at Ignitus, "How far along is she?" Ignitus looked at him, fear in his eyes.

"Seven, no, eight months." Bertram nodded gravely.

"Okay, so normal term for a dragon is the same for a human, nine months, meaning the child is pre-mature. Okay, Mrs. Ann, get several thick blankets from the closet over there, they have to be the wool ones, like the ones on the Count's bed. Next, oh dear, I'll need my medical kit, uh, ah ha! There it is, and finally, now Lady Cynder, I need you to do exactly as I say, now then, a pre-mature birth does not set off the female's brooding instinct like a normal birth, that's why you're in so much pain, however, the medicine in my medical bag will dull the pain and the egg will be no worse for wear; the only worry I have is that the egg may not be fully hard yet or the embryo fully developed. Despite all this I'm going to help you as best I can, alright, ready? Okay, Mrs. Ann, set those blankets behind her as to catch the egg, furthermore those blankets will act as warmers to keep it insulated." As Bertram examined Cynder, Ignitus had fetched the medical kit and set it there by him.

Bertram saw the bag, and looked surprised at first, but when he saw Ignitus' eyes, he nodded knowingly at him.

"You know Ignitus, I had a son born premature, back a long time ago." Ignitus perked up when he said this.

"Was he alright?" Bertram nodded.

"Yes he turned out alright in the end, he was a bit small for a baby at first, but he quickly grew into a striking young man. The happiest moment of my life was the day my wife brought him home, from then on he grew by leaps and bounds. In fact, the young master looked at him as a brother rather than the son of the family butler."

"Where is he now?" Ignitus asked, however, Bertram's face fell.

"I don't know, he fought in the Syllian War alongside the Count, he was wounded once and it was me who operated on him, sadly however, he was declared 'missing' after the battle for Callen's Hill, I haven't seen him since." Ignitus hung his head, but brought it back up when his mother roared again. Bertram's eyes were bright and focused.

"Now, Cynder, now push!, Come on that's it; again, push!, Ann, are those blankets there?!" The maid nodded fiercely.

"Good. Now then, last time Cynder, and push!" With a somewhat strangled roar, the egg came and dropped into the blankets, safe, whole and surprisingly very large. Bertram pulled on his stethoscope and began to feel and examine the egg for any cracks, nicks and most importantly, a heartbeat.

Ignitus watched with bated breath as Bertram finished examining the egg, he turned to Cynder, who looked at him and the egg worriedly.

Bertram took a deep breath, smiled and nodded, "The egg is completely intact and there is life. The heartbeat of this hatchling is particularly strong, I have no doubt it will hatch within the proper term. Now then, as I am sure you are hungry; I will go and get some food from the larder." With that Bertram turned and walked away.

The Blackguard team was slowly making its way toward the study where the book was held, once they reached the door, however, they paused and cautiously, peeked through the door. There were three volunteer soldiers there and one dragon most likely a young one otherwise he would be fighting the Federation outside. The leader sent two members to the far left door and three to the far right door, he and the other five would go through this door. A few seconds later, the groups on the far doors jerked the doors open and ran in and quickly shot the three human guards, now for the dragon, who was quickly in a battle-stance. The leader charged into the room and grabbed an antique spear from the wall and hurled it.

Aaros, saw the three humans beside him drop and quickly got ready for an attack, however, the center door opened and six men wearing Federation uniforms ran in, one grabbing a spear and throwing it at him. Aaros quickly drew breath for his wind element, however a dull '_thunk'_ knocked the breath out of his lungs. Looking down, he saw the haft of the antique spear protruding from his left chest. He looked at the humans and let out a roar of defiance before falling over on his right side.

Bertram was in the hallway when he heard Aaros' roar. Quickly he ran into the room he recognized as Havver's and grabbed his sawn-off double barrel shotgun off the gun rack by his bed. He checked it to make sure it was loaded and grabbed a few more shells and ran out of the room.

Within a few seconds he reached the study and saw thirteen men dressed in Federation uniforms in the study and one of them, the leader, possibly, was walking over to the Grimoire. As soon as he picked it up, Bertram charged into the room.

"Halt Brigands!" Bertram shouted as he fired both barrels of the shotgun, one round, a slug, hit the leader's right arm and blew it off, the other round, buck shot, struck a man full in the chest and neck. Before the Grimoire hit the floor and before Bertram could reload, one of the men turned and fired one round from his pistol, hitting Bertram in the chest. He clutched the side of his chest with his hand and fell back against the wall, the shotgun still in his right hand. The man who shot him ran toward him, probably intent on finishing the job, however he stopped and Bertram looked up into his eyes and gasped, the man's eyes had begun to tear up in recognition that came too late. Grabbing his shoulder, Bertram pulled the man down so that he could hear. His voice was already growing weaker.

"Ger..ald….I….f-f-forgi..ve….y-y…ou, m-my..s-son…..I..forgive…you…" Bertram's old blue eyes dulled and for the first time since his wife's passing a single tear rolled down his face, the last sight was of the brigands his son was with picking up their fallen leader and the Grimoire, and his last thought, which was more of a prayer. _(Gerald, I pray that whatever has bound you to these murderous thieves releases you soon, before you are lost forever.)_

Okay, so Chapter 7 was the start of the Battle for Launces, the poll will decide what James does for the battle, again you can use the poll, post your answer on a review, or PM me, the choices are James de Launces as a tank commander, James as a bi-plane pilot, or both. Why am I giving the option for both? Cause that's awesome!

The idea for the paratroopers came from me listening to the theme of the 101st Airborne, "Blood Upon the Risers" and watching old reels from WWI & II. Also, parachutes were available during WWI, however, they had a high failure rating and were expensive to make, people did not believe in investing thousands in creating dozens of cloth canopies that may or may not work and save the life of a falling pilot, not when they could use the funds to create hundreds upon hundreds of weapons, uniforms and medical supplies that _can _and _will_ save lives?

So the Grimoire has been stolen a mystery has been placed, what will happen in the future? Keep reading and find out on the next chapter of Metal Storm! Till then, see you! =D


	9. Chapter 8

Hey there! Launces Mechanist here; I got tired of the poll and just decided to advance the story, I'll go ahead with both ideas the only thing is that I'll hint somewhere in the chapter of a future invention that is of a 'steampunk' genre, read closely! As always please read and review, your comments are welcome.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING IN THE SPYRO UNIVERSE, ONLY MY OWN OCs.

Chapter 8: Metal Storm Pt.1

The steam truck moved quickly through the deserted streets; James knew that the only way to win the ground war now was with the element of surprise. The soldiers with him were apprehensive about leaving the front lines, however they knew that when the Count of Launces tells you to come with him, you _don't_ say no. The truck was packed from cab to tailgate with soldiers, it vaguely reminded him of a theatre comedy reel he had seen of people trying to cram into one of the original steamcars, they had succeeded at cramming sixteen people into the car and had nine people hanging on outside; the car drove off, went around a corner and a few seconds later, there was a cloud of steam and then a wheel rolled by.

A few moments later the warehouse appeared in the distance and James began to decelerate, the truck came to a screeching halt just outside the overhead door. The soldiers dismounted the vehicle with practiced precision and James opened the door.

The inside was pitch black, and there was not a soul to be seen. After thinking a moment, James found the light switch he had invented years ago, however he was still trying to find a way to make light without using flames. The switch sent a spark into the massive chandeliers overhead and one by one they flared to life bathing the interior in a soft red-orange light. There were several strange machines and all of them were covered in sheets. Roughly thirteen of the machines looked similar, however the one in the back was even bigger. James walked over to one of the smaller machines and with a yank pulled the sheet off. The soldiers were dumbstruck.

"Sweet Mother of God," exclaimed one of them, "what is that monstrosity, milord?" James smiled and turned to them.

"Gentlemen, these weapons are what will drive the Federation back. I call this invention the 'tank'!"

"What does it do, sir?"

"To put it simply, the tank is a weapon that bulldozes through enemy lines and creates as much panic and havoc as possible while also inflicting severe casualties. I invented this machine to help bring a quicker end to war. It is time for the debut." Another soldier raised his hand.

"Sir, what about that large machine in the back; Will we be using it?" James shook his head.

"No we won't, sadly the Juggernaut isn't yet complete, there are still several key components missing, most of which are still under construction in my workshop at the castle. One of which is a new type of condenser and compressor hybrid that if it can be completed will ultimately supercharge any steam-powered machine tenfold."

"How do we work these 'tanks'?" James motioned the soldiers over.

"Alright see this box here? This is the driver's seat, the driver and tank commander will be here, the large turret in the front houses the 40mm cannon, the smaller turrets house small caliber sub-machineguns, the steam engine that drives it is in the back. I fixed the previous problem about having to use copious amounts of fuel to keep making steam with a prototype of the new condenser, all you have to do is start the fire once and the small coal fire will keep steam flowing, since the condenser only allows for a two percent steam loss, the tank can go roughly two hundred miles at full speed, which by the way to only twenty miles per hour, alright here's how we go about manning the tanks, we're short-handed so we need to stretch our numbers, there is a small .30 caliber sub-machinegun in the drivers cab fixed on the roof, we will need three men per tank: one man to drive, one man to command and use the gun in the cab, and one to load and fire the cannon. Including the six soldiers we picked up on the way here and myself that gives us twenty seven men, enough to man eight of the thirteen tanks." Just at that moment, a voice piped up from the back.

"Excuse me Professor?" James wheeled around to immediately recognize some members of the test crew.

"Rayson! Macintyre! You and your crews are alright?" The test crew nodded.

"Yes, sir; we knew that if things went to pot, you would be stopping by here to either start the tanks or destroy them to keep them out of the enemies hands. Since you're here to fight back, we'll help you out, there are enough of us that we can drive the tanks and the soldiers can man the guns, the crew for all thirteen tanks will stand at four, one of the test crew will drive while the soldiers man the machineguns and cannon in the turrets. I guess you'll be joining us?" James nodded.

"There is one more warehouse that I need to check on, once we get these tanks rolling, we barge through the gate and mow down as many enemies in our way, then I need to get to Warehouse Five, the one near the Dracocorps landing field." A surprised look came into the eyes of Rayson.

"Sir, you mean to tell me the planes are finished?"

"Roughly eight of them are, the other six still need work." Rayson smiled and nodded, then turning to the test crew, he raised his voice.

"All test crew aboard, I'll be in tank one with the Professor, Miles, you're in two. Remember, this isn't a test this is the real deal, you mess up, it's your ass."

The crew whooped and hollered as they jumped into the tanks. James and Rayson climbed into the cab of tank one got into position. Rayson sat in the driver's seat looking at the five gauges in front of him: water, engine temperature, speed, steam pressure, and fuel. The tank used anthracite coal for primary fuel, however it also used kerosene as a backup. James climbed up the step and sat in the commander's chair behind Rayson. In order to protect the crews from exposure, the driver and gunners used periscopes to see what was going on around them, when the tank was moving, the commander watched the gauges for the driver who watched them when the tank was stationary. With a few clicks and then a screech, the tanks began lumbering forward, James took a second to leap out and open the warehouse overhead door, and then climbed back in. In numerical sequence the tanks rolled out single file, the crews conducting systems checks while rolling.

"Water level, check; engine temp, check; pressure, check; emergency fuel, check; okay Rayson what's our speed?"

"Speed is five miles per hour, opening throttle to full." A loud whoosh of steam accompanies that statement and the tank lurched forward again, the clicking and clanking of the treads picking up in rhythm. James listened a moment, then spoke.

"Damn thing nearly sounds like a heartbeat, doesn't it?" Rayson laughed.

"I know, right that's why I love this thing, it nearly sounds alive once you get going." James smiled and looked out from his peephole in the cab and turned around.

The engine was barely smoking, and hardly any steam was escaping from the exhaust ports; the other tanks were still behind them in the same formation. Looking back toward the wall, he saw the Federation zeppelins hovering ever closer. The Dracocorps were putting up a valiant effort, but they were barely making a dent. They had lost two more dragons, however, Spyro, Shimmer, and Pyre were still fighting. Then the funniest thing, Spyro and Shimmer looked down at the line of tanks, and did a double take, eyes wide in surprise. There were cries of surprise coming from the wall as well. Thinking quickly, James opened the top hatch and started waving the Syllian flag for a moment before setting it in the flag holder on the side of the cab.

Spyro was shocked, he had never seen anything like this, and from his surprise, neither had Shimmer, who was about to investigate until James came out of the top and started waving a flag. Shimmer had a complete reversal, from looking worried to relieved as he saw the Professor. Thirteen iron boxes trundled along at what Spyro thought was a leisurely pace, surely these things couldn't influence the battle below too greatly. Then again, he was only one dragon, yet he had rescued Cynder, defeated Gaul and Malefor, and pulled the world back from the brink of destruction.

(_Maybe there's more to these humans than I thought. I wonder how well they'll do in battle._) Spyro thought to himself. It was remarkable to see these inventions working, if he were here Volteer would be absolutely giddy and want to take one apart to see how it worked.

Meanwhile back in the Southlands.

Volteer walked through the library looking at the old books and texts that had survived the war, suddenly, he got an itching sensation by his ear.

"Hmm, Idobelievesomeoneorsomebodyisconversing,blabbing,t alking,speakingaboutme. I do wonder who it could be?"

James' tank column had just reached the wall when he saw the garrison commander come running up with an excited look on his face.

"So these are the new 'tanks' I've been hearing about, if the enemy doesn't shit their drawers looking at these behemoths, they might at least have the decency to possibly pull back some." James cut in quickly.

"These tanks are going to completely rout the enemy, commander, I will not settle with a fall back, we will push hard and harder still until they either retreat or surrender. I will _not_ allow these brigands near my city, people, or family. I would rather die than let that happen." The commander nodded knowingly, and gave the signal to open the gates.

With a burst of steam and a sharp whistle the gears locking the gates started spinning slowly, as they turned, the gates crept open, the clanking of chains and machinery the harbinger of the horror that was about to descend upon the Federation. The tanks were ready and the remaining infantry were massing in preparation for the armored charge. Then James heard a scout shouting and pointing to the east. He turned and saw a beautiful sight, the Royalis Dracocorps Home Wing and nearly sixty war dirigibles were approaching, the cavalry had arrived. Strangely however, the airship of the Blackguard Mercenaries was leaving.

(No matter, those mercenaries were always unreliable, it was only a matter of where their loyalties lie. It obviously doesn't rest with their country.) James thought disgusted.

"Milord, the gates are nearly fully open, we're prepared to charge." James nodded and chambered a round in his gun. With a loud clang the gates were opened and the whole of the Federation's ground troops stood before them, some of the enlisted in the front had the grace to look either stunned or horrified by what they saw. One of them opened his mouth to speak, but he was silenced by a rifle shot from behind the tanks, he crumpled and fell forward. His comrades looked amongst themselves and then turned heel and began to run.

"Main gun: Fire;" shouted James, "Machineguns fire into the crowd, mow them down!"

The cannon fired a round that impacted a soldier in the torso, he and the unfortunate few to be standing near him were turned into a red mist by the explosive shell, then the guns open fire; tracers and bullets shot into the disintegrating army, bodies were dropping left and right. Then James felt a lurch as the tank began to move forward. There was a sickening _crunch_ whenever the treads rolled over a corpse, even worse was when they ran over an enemy who was still alive but gravely wounded. One in particular James actually saw through his gun sights; tank five was rolling on their right side and rolled over an enemy starting at his boots and started rolling up his body, he screams got higher more frequent as the treads advanced: feet, legs, groin and hips, finally reaching his torso he was silent after the tank crushed his chest. James averted his eyes before then not wanting to get sick of the sight. A familiar roar made him cringe slightly as he looked up and saw the only dragon in Syllia that despised him, his brother-in-law Zakwell, Commander of the Silver Wing, the most elite combat wing of the Dracocorps, and from the sound of that roar, he was _pissed off_ as usual.

The wall guns continued firing up into the sky to try and down a few enemy airships. Zakwell, watched in mixed curiosity and astonishment as the metal machines obliterated the enemy in front of them.

(_Well, well, well; looks like the mechanist has actually made something even __**I**__ can approve of, although the Dracocorps would annihilate the enemy even quicker given numbers_.) Zakwell thought smugly.

He had been a little curious as to the unknown airship fleeing south but that was a matter for the army down there, not him. The only reason he was here at all was because he had an immense hatred for the Federation, sure his sister Lysa and her 'mate' were here, but in his opinion she stopped being family when she bedded a human, shapeshifter or not. As his wing drew near, he caught a glimpse of Shimmer and his brother, the most surprising thing was to see the Southland's purple dragon also flying and destroying airship upon airship. He snarled viciously as he saw the parachutes coming out of a nearby airship, taking a deep breath he cast an arc of lightning that jumped from parachute to parachute and then finally hit the zeppelin immediately causing it to explode in a massive fireball. Shimmer and the other Launces dragons looked in shock. Shimmer did a wing over to reach him.

"Wing Commander Zakwell, what the hell was that explosion for?" Zakwell wheeled on Shimmer, his snout twisted in the angry snarl he wore when annoyed.

"The same reason _you've_ been fighting, we are at w_ar_ Group Leader and I intend to show these Telanian bastards why the Dracocorps are the most feared unit in the Syllian Armed Forces! I thought you most of all would understand since you lost your mother and sister at the start of the last war. Or have you forgotten what it means to be a dragon?!"

Those words hit Shimmer like a ton of bricks, Zakwell had also lost family in the Syllian War, but his family had been butchered, Pyre was the only family he had left. It made Shimmer's blood boil to think how Zakwell treated his family, his father and mother were still alive, yet he treated his sister like a complete stranger. Zakwell snorted roughly and did a flip in mid-air aiming for another airship and was gone before Shimmer could say anything else. Spyro came up alongside him, concerned.

"Who was that?"

"Wing Commander Zakwell, leader of the most elite Dracocorps wing in history; and one of the most arrogant dragons I've ever met. He was a good egg once, when we were in training together, however he completely changed when he heard about Lysa's marriage to James. Since then, the nicest thing _anyone_ can say about him is that he's frigid. At least he doesn't mince words, he'll tell you straight out what he thinks of you. His tongue is a more dangerous weapon than that lightning power of his."

"Lightning? Don't you mean _electricity_?" Asked Sypro, uncertain.

"No Spyro, I mean _lightning_. That dragon is a living, breathing, storm; he can create an electric field around his body to shock anyone who touches him, furthermore, he can close nearly _any _distance in the blink of an eye, he moves so fast he vanishes for a moment, look! He just did it and now he's going at another!"

Spyro looked up at the blue-gold dragon and was amazed by the sight, Zakwell was darting around several airships and exploding every single one, he destroyed five airships in a second; and he was moving so fast Spyro could hardly keep track of him. One second he was darting around a zeppelin, the next he was shredding parachutes and hurtling the soldiers toward the ground, screaming as they fell. Spyro recognized the tactics, however there was a bloodthirstiness in his attacks, the Launces Wing had been fighting because this was their home, Zakwell's wing fought because they _enjoyed_ it; it reminded him all too well of Gaul and his apes.

The Syllian airships were closing in on the war, General Williams was looking at the destruction the Silver Wing of Royalis was inflicting. As a soldier he could understand the tactics behind such barbaric attacks, but inside he was horrified. Still, the morale of the soldiers was bolstered when they discovered the Launces Guard was still fighting on the wall, and a lot of soldiers whooped and cheered when they saw the machines that were obliterating enemy squads and platoons left and right, the Federation was in full scale retreat; their will to fight was broken. A soldier approached the general and saluted.

"Sir, our own paratroops are ready to deploy, just give the word." Williams nodded and walked back to the jump station. Once there he saw the one hundred paratroops lined up, their light blue trenchcoats waving lightly in the breeze from the drop bay. The squad leaders snapped to attention and saluted.

"Gentlemen, we're close to the battlefield. Hook on and prepare to drop."

The soldiers hastened their rip lines and stepped to the edge of the steel bridge. The detachment leader signaled with his hand '_five seconds to drop_', the soldiers braced, took a collective breath and jumped. The downward hurtle was terrifying, especially with the dragons flying around flaming parachutes and airships everywhere. The parachutes deployed almost immediately upon leaving the airship, a wall of canopies stretched from the outer wall to the inner. Within moments six thousand soldiers were on the ground and advancing toward the outer wall to join the fight.

James' tank had cut through the enemy ranks like a farmers scythe through wheat, no matter where the tanks went on the field, death befell those who stood against the armored cavalry. The Federation officers (who had been the first to retreat to the rear), had ordered trenches and razor wire to be set up. These fortifications slowed down their own troops who had yet to retreat, the tanks had stopped just outside the barrier. Reyson looked at James in askance.

"The tanks are not equipped to cross those kinds of trenches. Get me to the Warehouse in this area, the planes should still be there, I only pray the enemy hasn't found them."

Reyson nodded and pulled the levers, the tank started to turn and began to chug away toward the warehouse. The other tanks stayed in their positions and continued to fire into the fortifications and also fire at the outer wall.

They made good time to the warehouse and the tanks crew dismounted. James threw open the doors and there neatly rowed were eight machines sitting there, they had narrow bodies and two sets of wings fixed just in front of a seat, a strange machine was first and for most with a wooden propeller, on the nose there were two machineguns and behind the rear seat there was another smaller gun and a box holding strange oblong objects. One of the soldiers looked skeptically at the machines.

"Are these the flying machines you were building sir? Are they ever finished?" James gave a triumphant nod and walked toward one of them. The planes 'skin' was blue and a silver cross had been painted on the body and on the wings, numbers had been painted in black behind the crosses and a single letter had been painted in front of the cross, the plane James was looking at was A01.

"Reyson, I need you to be my tail-gunner, let's see if we can start this baby up."

"If you're taking the fight to the Federation, milord, we'll go up with you." Reyson turned and whooped.

"Pauly, how the devil did you guys get from residential to here?" Pauly chuckled.

"We knew that if the ground war was pushed into those trenches the bastards dug, you'd need an overhead attack to finish the battle. This is the home stretch and none of us here would miss this for the world."

A few moments later all eight planes were manned and the tank crew was helping them start the engines. The only way to use the plane was for kerosene and coal oil to be mixed and fed into a special engine, furthermore, the only way to keep the engine running without it seizing was to use castor oil as a lubricant, a tank in front of the pilot's seat held the fuel, by James estimate they could fly for about four hours before needing to land and refuel. The tank crew members acted as the ground crew for the planes, fueling and oiling the engines, then they each grabbed a blade of a plane's propeller and when they heard the 'pilot' shout _'contact'_ they spun the propeller as hard as they could. Most of the planes started on the first spin, others required a little more force. James' started on the first go and with a sputtering roar, the biplane crept forward.

The sun was out and the sky was clear, no dragons were on the field so the planes had an unobstructed runway. James lined up the plane's nose and pushed the throttle forward as far as it would go, the whine turned into a roar and the plane lurched forward, picking up speed as it went, the speedometer read eighty, the plane's tail went up level, then the wheels lifted off. James pulled back on the stick in front of him and the plane began ascending, he spared a glance behind and saw the other planes doing likewise, within moments all eight planes were up, each a perfect takeoff, under James order they got into formation like they had seen the dragons do, two squadrons of four.

"We're really flying now eh, James?!" Yelled Reyson over the howling wind. James nodded and then yelled.

"Yeah we are, now it's time to go do some business!"

He banked the plane right and made a beeline for where the trenches and remaining zeppelins were, intent of taking back his city.

Spyro was tiring, he had destroyed nearly fourteen airships, Shimmer had nearly as many kills as him, even Zakwell was tiring. The other dragons including Pyre had dropped and landed behind friendly lines to recover. The enemy had set up trenches to protect their remaining forces and there was no way to get at them except from the air, however, whenever one of them made a run for the trenches, the airships opened fire with their machine guns, concentrating their fire over the lines. Spyro desperately wanted to protect his family, there had to be some way to destroy the trenches, something _had _to happen. His thoughts were broken by a buzzing roar that seemed to get louder as it got nearer, Shimmer and Zakwell heard it too and looked for its source. On the ground, soldiers and dragons were searching the skies looking for the noise, some with alarm some with curiosity. Then from out of the clouds they saw the source and Spyro swore he saw Zakwell's jaw drop; James was approaching and he was _flying_, but without a dragon, he was controlling some sort of machine, and there were seven others behind him. Spyro watched as they went for the zeppelins, breaking off into twos and ones same as the dragon wings. Shimmer flew toward the machine that James was controlling.

James almost laughed at the look on Zakwell's face, however he could not spare the time, he banked hard left and flew towards the closest zeppelin. Squeezing the lever that controlled his guns, he fired of a long stream of bullets that ripped into the airship. Below, he could hear the crew's cry of alarm and circled back to attack again. One more burst and the zeppelin exploded, its flaming wreckage falling slowly toward the ground. He saw other planes attacking other airships and having the same amount of success; then there was a bright flash and he saw Shimmer attacking with renewed strength. He nodded his head and James promptly saluted.

"Alright Reyson, you know what to do, when I strafe an airship, you turn the tail gun on it when we pass over." He barely heard Reyson's reply over the howl of the wind; James angled the plane towards another airship, this one obviously served as a troop carrier, as James noted, it was bigger than the gunship zeppelins and had two massive balloon sections lashed together with two small bridges and one large area from where several enemy soldiers were parachuting out of the sides. Off in the distance, James could see an even larger airship approaching, this one had _three_ balloon sections and had a long steel body in between the front two and had the third lashed above.

James brought the plane in and opened fire on the airship, his bullets ripping through the soft fabric and occasionally setting the skin on fire, his two nose-mounted machineguns dealing immense yet unseen damage to the enemy machine. As he passed over, Reyson trained his gun on the other side and squeezed the trigger; the bullets ripped through the skin on this side and they were rewarded with a large explosion that seemed to 'pop' the starboard balloon; the frame and the top half were gone in a flash the machine began to list, the other gas bag unable to keep the weight aloft, another plane came behind them and finished the job. Reyson then tapped James on the shoulder and pointed down, James looked and saw the infantry beginning a charge. James immediately thought of a daring, yet risky, plan.

"Reyson, I'm going to pass over the trenches, when I give you the signal, start dropping bombs into the trenches!" Reyson acknowledged with a tap and grabbed the box of bombs that was behind him. James dropped low, flew over the corpses of the fallen and was just over the trench.

"Now!" He shouted and Reyson threw bomb after bomb into the trench; explosions and screams followed shortly thereafter as clouds of smoke and dust were blown into the air. A few bombs actually hit the razor wire and detonated, shredding the wire and clearing a path for the infantry. The Syllian troops cheered as they went overhead. Reyson soon tapped his shoulder again indicating they were out of bombs. James nodded and pulled back on the control stick, he then soared over the bombed trench. Catching a glimpse of Zakwell, James turned and gave his brother a salute. Zakwell surprisingly returned it with a victory roar. Suddenly, there was trouble, a loud '_bang_' echoed from below and the plane's engine began spewing black smoke. They'd been hit.

Zakwell watched in open horror as the machine was hit by a rifleman on the ground; quick as a whip, he fired a bolt of blue lightning and struck the Telanian dead, then looked for James, the machine was barely flying, black smoke was pouring out of the nose and a rattleing sound could be heard from the machine, in the cab he could see James desperately trying to maintain control, they were quickly approaching Lake Gerion and the machine was descending rapidly.

Shimmer and Spyro were horrified when the machine was hit and started to crash; thinking on instinct, they both raced forward to try and catch them before the machine crashed into the nearby lake. A loud roar and a great shadow passing overhead stopped them however as they looked up, Spyro saw the biggest dragon he'd ever seen flying toward James, this dragon was even bigger than then guardians. Beside him, Shimmer went wide eyed and called out in joy.

"Father!"

The call was echoed by Pyre below. Titanus, father of Shimmer and Pyre, the largest dragon in the Syllia, and leader of Syllia's dragon populace dove to rescue James and Reyson from the burning machine.

Wow that was one heck of a ride huh? Good grief I can't believe how long this chapter is. (13 pages on Word). So, James fought in a tank and flew a plane, then was shot down. Also I found out I tend to write more when the right kind of music is playing for example during the tank scene I was listening to the Valkyria Chronicles soundtrack, with the Syllian paratroopers I was listening to Queen's "We Will Rock You"; and for the whole airplane sequence I was listening to the soundtrack for Ace Combat 5. Cool huh?

As I stated at the beginning, you're comments are welcome, please rate and review!

Will Titanus be able to rescue them? Will the Federation finally be pushed out of Launces and Syllia? Will Volteer ever find out that Spyro was talking about him? Find out these answers and much more next time on The Legend of Spyro: Metal Storm! See ya! :D


	10. Chapter 9

Salutations, Launces Mechanist here; I hope ya'll are liking the story so far, here's the conclusion for the Battle for Launces, but this is by no means the end of the story, there is more to come.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING IN THE SPYRO UNIVERSE, ONLY MY OWN OCs.

Chapter 9: Metal Storm Pt.2

Havvers heard the shot and glanced up, when he saw James and his son Reyson in the machine that was falling, his heart skipped a beat, then he heard Titanus and watched with fixed eyes as the massive dragon flew toward the machine, intent on rescuing its occupants. Meanwhile, a young soldier ran up to him, pale in the face and breathing rapidly.

"Captain, you're needed at the castle." Havvers wheeled around a perplexed expression on his face.

"Why there; has the enemy infiltrated the castle?"

"It's possible sir, I just received a report that the Blackguards have fled the field but something has happened, soldiers in federation uniforms were spotted in the castle by a maid, there has been only one casualty, the butler Bertam. He was found in the library with your shotgun clutched in his hand and there was blood everywhere." Havvers went wide-eyed upon hearing Bertram's name.

"Where did you hear this?"

"The dragon Aaros, sir. The maid found him in the library with a lance in his chest, he's still alive but he's been severely wounded, the other guards were dead and Bertram had a single gunshot wound through the chest. Also, the Grimoire is missing, most likely stolen by the Federation." Havvers thought quickly, then called for some of his men.

"The front line is stable for the moment, I need you men to go to the castle and secure it, I cannot leave the front to help you; look out for Federation troops who were seen in the castle, your priority is the safety of the Countess and her children. We've already lost Bertram, I _don't_ want to lose anybody else to these bastards." The soldiers saluted and then ran to a waiting steam truck. Then Havvers turned and saw the other flying machines bombing the trench. Nodding to his lieutenant, he turned to his troops.

"All soldiers ready, fix bayonettes and check your rifles; when I blow my whistle, we charge the trench again. Ready?" Havvers gauged his troops fiercely for a moment, then lifted the brass trench whistle to his dry lips and blew a high-pitched note through it.

The soldiers scrambled up the trench ladders and ran as fast as they could toward the enemy's first trench, the scene vaguely reminded him about Callen's Hill. He had been with the Dragoons that stormed the hill after James' artillery cleared out the first trench. The situation was the same; he actually found himself thinking what the Federation's deal with trenches was; did they just like playing in the dirt or did they think it provided some sort of shelter. Still, all jokes and japes aside he quickly looked around and heard shells from the captured artillery race overhead, shells exploded on either side of him, one landed on the far side and detonated, sending four soldiers hurtling through the air, there was one young man screaming for him mother in a pool of his own blood, both his legs gone from a nearby blast, if that wasn't bad enough, the airships started firing down onto the infantry. Bullets whistled and thumped into the ground, occasionally he would hear a sharp _clank_ or _clang_ when a bullet pierced a soldier's helmet or cuirass. He looked left then right at the soldiers running with him, spurts of blood would pop out of their bodies when they were shot; he saw at least fifteen soldiers next to him crumple down and die in the mud. Havvers was first to reach the trench; he leapt over the sandbags and landed on his feet in the muddy bottom, he heard a yell and turned to see a Tellanian coming at him with a trench knife, he pulled the trigger on his rifle; _'click'_. Grimacing, he lunged and impaled the enemy on his bayonette. Hearing another scream, he dropped his rifle and drew his sidearm and trusty mace. The soldier saw the mace and skidded to a halt, too bad he was close enough; Havvers brought the mace down and with a sickening _'crunch and a clang'_ the man's helmet was flattened and his head obliterated. Turning the other way, Havvers saw an officer struggling to draw his pistol, Havvers took careful aim and whistled, when the officer, a young lieutenant, looked up, he pulled the trigger, the bullet hitting the man right between the eyes and blowing a chunk of his skull across the trench. He then heard a triumphant roar and saw Titanus landing behind the lines, James and Reyson safely on his back.

James was never a man to show fear; though he felt it as he struggled bravely to keep the plane from spinning into the ground. The engine was burning and he had lost rudder control, furthermore, Reyson appeared to be unconscious from that earlier roll just after the engine had been hit, Reyson's body had whipped forward and he had struck his head on the tail gun; he was now slumped in his seat, his head bleeding from a cut on his forehead. James mashed the pedals again in a hopeless thought that the rudder would spring to life if he pushed hard enough on the pedals. The ailerons were behaving sluggishly and James realized it was only a matter of time before the plane lost all control completely and started spinning out, he was still a good five hundred meters from Lake Gerion and James knew that a water landing was preferable to a crash landing on hard earth. Suddenly he heard a loud roar and looking back, his heart nearly jumped into his mouth, it was Titanus, Shimmer and Pyre's father and the leader of the Syllian dragons, his incredible wingspan quickly catching up to the falling plane.

Titanus saw James and young Reyson Havvers in the machine, narrowing his eyes, he saw Reyson was injured and unconscious, but still alive, James was fighting for control of the machine and they were dropping like a stone. His draconic mind analyzed the situation and then he dropped below the machine, once he was under it but safely away from the spinning blades in front, he craned his neck up and yelled at James.

"James, grab Reyson and jump, I'll catch you on my back." James looked down at first in amazement, then he nodded.

James unbuckled Reyson from the seat and slung him over his shoulder like a bag of corn, Titanus came up slightly to reduce the drop distance. Sparing a glance back at the failing controls, he leaped off the side just as he heard the rudder cables snap and the plane veer off to the side and started to spin. James landed roughly on the huge dragon's back and set Reyson down on Titanus' shoulders, looking to the falling plane, it spun a few more times then it struck the ground. Upon hitting the ground the plane exploded and bright flames consumed the remaining fabric that acted as the 'skin' of the plane. Sighing deeply, James relaxed as Titanus turned around and headed for the safe area behind the lines.

Spyro and Shimmer roared with joy when they saw James and Reyson jump and land safely on Titanus' back. Knowing that their friend was safe, they both turned their attention back to the remaining airships, the flying machines had destroyed quite a few, and there were only fifty remaining. Taking a deep breath, he beat his wings and went back into the fray, looking down Spyro saw the infantry charging and also saw the airships started firing down on them, there was one nearby however that stood out, it was longer that the other airships and was also more heavily armed and armored, it had three gas bags and a large metal body that served to control the machine, there was also a mysterious emblem on the side that sickened him, it was a dragon impaled by several swords, the Federation's national emblem, a star, pitchfork, and hammer drawn in what was apparently the dragon's blood. Spyro tried breathing fire on it, however, the flames licked the side and where they impacted, he saw a cherry red glow, that's when he realized it.

(_The sides are covered in metal!)_ Spryo tried to use electricity, but the bolt of energy arced upward and went to a steel rod sticking out the front of the balloon part, the airship was also insulated. Ice didn't have any noticeable effect either, the ice melted as soon as it hit the side, obviously the metal channeled heat from the engines. The only thing left was convexity; Spyro took a steadying breath, then his body began to radiate a violet light, he fired one beam of pure convexity energy at the airship, the beam hit the side, but much to Spyro's horror, all it did was push the airship to the side slightly, then its course corrected and was flying straight again, however, it stopped firing at the ground troops and targeted _him_. Twenty guns opened up and concentrated fire on him, thinking quickly he used his earth element to create a shield and managed to stop the bullets, just barely, one bullet made it through and grazed his left flank. This was the first time he'd been hit with a bullet and the pain from even a grazing shot was excruciating, the bullet was hot and solid, it was like being hit with an arrow heated from a campfire only worse, he clenched his teeth and uttered a low growl, Shimmer saw this and flew over.

"You okay," Shimmer asked, then he saw the graze, "first time getting shot eh? Well at least it's only a grazing shot a full on hit is worse; I see you found the flagship, that emblem belongs to the Slayer Corps. They are the Federations answer and equivalent to the Dracocorps, these guys are serious business, their airships are specially designed to repel all forms of dragon attacks, even my powerful light attacks just bounce right off, no dragon has _ever_ been able to destroy one, now you see why we work with humans so closely. Focus on the other airships, I'll deal with this one." Spyro nodded, trusting Shimmer and flew on to another airship and torched it. Shimmer flew down behind allied lines and found Zakwell resting there, the others had taken off when they regained their energy, Zakwell raised a questioning eye ridge and Shimmer nodded toward the flagship. Shimmer approached the artillery line that had been hastily set up to counter the captured guns on the outer wall.

"Where's the battery commander," asked Shimmer; a soldier, a Corporal, saluted him and stepped forward; "Aren't you a little young to be an artillery commander?"

"No choice sir," the young man started, "regular commander bought it in the initial attack. How can I help you?" Shimmer pointed with his snout towards the flagship.

"That airship is the enemy's flagship, it belongs to the Slayer Corps so we can't get close enough to do anything, it's armored so your artillery is the only thing that can bring one down. I'm returning to battle, bringing down that airship is the key to our victory here. Make sure you bring it down before it inflicts any more casualties." As Shimmer took off the young man turned and directed his heavy, large caliber guns to target the armored airship up above. As Shimmer burned another airship he was rewarded by the sound of a large explosion that also got the attention of the other dragons, he turned and saw steel plates falling from the flagship and smoke began billowing out of the bridge underneath, then there was another explosion followed by another huge blast, smoke billowed from between the plates and then the largest explosion of them all ripped the plates apart and Shimmer saw the airship's armor was breaking in half, the internal gas bags were burning and whole internal frame was shattered, it reminded him of a ship he had seen sink during the Syllian War, a battleship that was hit went down by the stern and broke in half before finally sinking. The same was happening here. A few moments later the airship hit the ground and the ruins collapsed on those who survived the initial crash, Shimmer was grateful that a storm was on the way; if he was any judge of clouds, it was going to be a big one and the rain could put out the fire. The enemy seemed to lose their nerve after the flagship went down, the remaining fifteen airships started to turn and retreat, the infantry below were throwing down their weapons and surrendering en masse, the dragons roared their triumph, and the humans below celebrated their epic victory; sighing with relief, Shimmer turned and started to descend, once he landed though, he found Havvers talking with James; as he walked forward, Spyro landed behind him, then he noticed James had a forlorn expression on his face.

"James, what's wrong, we should be celebrating the victory that your machines helped us." James glanced up from where he was sitting, Shimmer could immediately see something was _very_ wrong, the last time he'd seen James like this, he'd just learned his parents had been executed during the war. He repeated the question slowly, James took a shuddering breath.

"Federation troops infiltrated the castle, they stole the Grimoire and wounded Aaros, the seven guards with him were all dead, and furthermore Bertram was killed trying to stop them." Shimmer gasped.

"No, not Aaros and Bertram, and the Grimoire too? This day just went from good to shit." James let out a weak chuckle and nodded.

"Let's get back to the castle, oh by the way Spyro, you may want to head back ahead of us, Cynder's egg came premature, it's safe and the dragon inside is alive, but she _really_ needs you." Spyro, who had been about to offer his condolences, clammed up and took off in the blink of an eye, flying straight for the castle. The garrison commander approached James.

"Sir, several of the prisoners were officers, maybe we could interrogate them to see if they know anything about this." James nodded his accent; then boarded a steam truck with Havvers and some soldiers and they set out to secure the castle.

Spyro reached the castle before anyone else and went to the room below where Cynder had been; he found her wrapped around the egg with Ignitus and his two daughters next to her. The humans were nearby, but they were in mixed stages of grief. A few moments later, Lysa lifted her heard and everyone heard the heavy wooden door close, followed shortly by James voice shouting through the hallways. A few minutes later, James came in and upon seeing his family, ran to them. Lysa openly burst into tears and she, Thera, and his two sons ran to embrace him. Spyro saw their emotions and went by Cynder, he could tell she had also been weeping. A few moments later Havvers came in, looked at James and nodded.

"Milord, the castle is secure, there is no sign of the enemy, a dragon surgeon is here to examine Aaros, furthermore, the coroner is here for Bertram; he's in the library." James nodded and walked out of the safe room, Thera and the children stayed with Ignitus, Lysa followed James out.

For James, time seemed to slow upon reaching the library. He entered through the large center door. Straight ahead, the surgeon was tending to Aaros and the dead guards were lined up next to the Auralis. He turned to his right and saw the coroner kneeling over the prone body of Bertram Roth, the old man's eyes were closed, and his body was rigid. Havvers' double barrel shotgun lay clenched in his right hand, both shells fired, Bertram's coat was gone, his white shirt soaked with blood. The coroner, a man James recognized, stood up and nodded.

"James, it's good to see you again, although I wish it was under better circumstances."

"Doctor Franklin Stein, the last time I saw you was during that medical conference that Bertram attended, you were giving a lecture on the treatment of wounds inflicted by shrapnel, phosphorous, and poison gas weapons." Stein nodded slowly; then looked back down at Bertram.

"As far as I see, cause of death was a single gunshot to the chest, most likely pierced the heart, probably the aorta with this much blood. He would have bled out in seconds, if it makes a difference, he didn't suffer long. Plus, it looks like he got in a good shot or two on his attackers, Havvers told me the gun was twin loaded, one slug and one round of buckshot; That much blood and mutilated tissue there by the Grimoire's stand means someone lost a limb, that huge pool of blood there means the buckshot hit someone in the chest and skull, force was sufficient to knock the poor sod into the grandfather clock behind him, talk about for whom the bell tolls. I'm about to take these poor lads to the undertaker, as far as I know, you and the staff were the only family the old man had left, last arrangements are up to you." James nodded and looked at Bertram, Stein and Lysa could see he was struggling to hold back tears.

"Bertram was a member of the family for over sixty years; he worked his way up from gardener to butler and even spent his free time learning medicine, he even served as my father's aide during the Channels War, it was there he learned about combat medicine and became a surgeon. He sewed me up several times during the war," Spyro, Cynder, and the children all arrived as he was speaking, "When I lost my parents I was afraid, when my children were born, I was petrified; every time I was frightened he was there; he stepped in where my father had left; he was my mentor and he was my children's grandfather. His own son vanished after the war, every time Thera, Nick and Josh called him grandpa he would tear up a little and chuckle. He is, was, family; as is such, he will be given a military funeral with full honors; he is going on the hill next to my parents and his wife. This is the least I can do for him, although he deserves much more than that. Take good care of him Stein." Stein nodded slowly, thoughtfully. Then he motioned for one of the assistants and placed Bertram on a stretcher, James withheld his tears even when Stein pulled the white sheet over his body and then ceremoniously covered the old man's face.

James stayed secluded in the library for three days, only going from his chambers to the library and back again. He ate and drank very little. Occasionally, he was asked by the local hospital to build some pieces for soldiers who had lost their limbs in the battle, he worked quickly to get the pieces out. There were not as many amputees as there were casualties so not many were needed; Stein dropped by to take the pieces to the hospital, the one thing that he didn't drop was the quality of his machines. On the fourth morning, Stein came to confirm the day of the funeral. The military had been busy burying and moving the dead from the fields. The dragons had their own ceremonies for their dead. Shimmer, Pyre, and Zakwell stayed at the castle for a while. On the day of Bertram's funeral, the Dracocorps donned their ceremonial gold armor and black coats, their old uniform they wore at the corps founding; the dragons wore their mourning armor, standard armor with black stripes on the chest plate. James was in his chambers getting ready, he had on black slacks and boots, a white shirt and donned a cravat, Lysa was behind him in her black dress and veil, she helped him with his black coat and cape. As he donned the top hat, he heard a rumble outside; he gazed out and saw black clouds on the horizon, lightning traced the sky over the hills.

"When the soul of a good man dies, Heaven weeps with joy at the return of his soul. A storm on a funeral, befitting weather to mask the tears of the living." James began to tear up, Lysa changed into dragon form, nuzzled his neck and wrapped her wings around him, using her tail as a balance, she embraced him with her forelegs, she couldn't explain it, this always seemed to calm him down whether due to the sound of her heartbeat of maybe because James felt safe within the confines of her wings, she couldn't tell. James fell into her embrace and wept openly and fully, the restrained tears of nineteen years, the grief of losing his parents and siblings in such a gruesome manner, the grief of his fallen comrades, the grief of losing a close family friend, all of it flooding out at once; all that was constant was a sound, a sound akin to a beating drum; the heart of his wife and lover. He heard the beating of her heart, her enormous heart, and felt her warmth flow between the both of them, he wept and wept for some time; she remembered hearing his grief looking over the tombstones of his parents and siblings. A few moments later, he broke the embrace and walked out of the chamber. He took a steadying breath in the foyer, and with Lysa and their children beside him, he boarded the steam car and soon was en route to the hill.

Upon arriving James and his family found the staff in attendance as well as several dragons and dragoons of the Dracocorps, including Zakwell. Spyro, Cynder and their children were there. A rectangular hole with a steel frame was there. A few moments later the hearse arrived, and with it came the rain. Six soldiers dressed in military uniforms stepped out, Havvers, Mac, Thomas, and Deran were among them, the other two James didn't recognize. They marched slowly through the rain and set the coffin on top of the steel frame. The front lid was raised, James found himself staring at the cold, lifeless body of the man who taught him nearly everything he knew, the man who taught him about the sanctity of human life, the man who taught him humility, courage, patience, and pride. The old man's glasses were on, he was dressed in the uniform he always wore, the only addition was his white surgeon's coat that he also wore, his hair was brushed in the way, he looked so like his old self James felt that he was going to open his eyes and say one of those old quotes or sayings. James walked forward and produced a cross, a gold and silver cross, and placed it in the old man's hands; everyone else who followed placed roses or some other flower in the casket. The lid was closed and this time locked, Havvers came up with the emblem of the Dracocorps, a shield with a dragon circling a Syllian cross, and with a swift _'bang'_, embedded the emblem into the hard wooden coffin, a lone bugler in the background played taps and a military honor guard of seven riflemen marched up to the coffin and fired their rifles three times. This time, it was James' turn to comfort his wife and children, bringing them close as the funeral ended, the priest said a few words and James gave a short eulogy, and with that, the coffin was lowered into the ground and was buried. So passed Bertram Roth, butler, surgeon, father, friend, soldier of Syllia and Launces; the tombstone was made of white marble, the same as James' parents and siblings, the inscription and title on the tombstone was the last thing to finish.

HERE LIES BERTRAM ROTH

HERO OF THE KINGDOM, AND FRIEND OF THE PEOPLE

MAY 9, 1845- AUGUST 10, 1910

_"May life be ever kind and sweet, but never hold back the lessons learned."_

The funeral over, James and his family went back to the castle; the time for grief is done, now the Grimoire must be found, as must Bertram's killer.

(_May God have mercy on the man behind Bertram's murder, for I sure as Hell will not.)_ James thought silently as the steam car chugged slowly toward the castle, the wings of dragons shadowing them from above.

That's it, that is Chapter 9. Launces is won, but the Grimoire is gone, Bertram is dead, and Aaros is severely wounded and comatose. What perils await the characters ahead, find out next chapter. As always, please rate and review!


	11. Chapter 10

Ugh, writer's block, I HATE it when that happens, the next two chapters will most likely be filler, so please just bare with me and I'll see if I can't shake a few idea bats out of the belfry. Although some of the steampunk tech mentioned in this chapter will play a role in the chapters to come. As always, filler or not, please rate and review.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING IN THE SPYRO UNIVERSE, I ONLY OWN MY OCs.

Chapter 10: Shadows of the Grimoire

Ever since the Blackguards had returned to Peninsula City three days ago, Dalon had spent every moment with his nose buried in the Grimoire; sure he'd been pissed when he learned they had suffered two casualties, one being shot with buckshot and blown into a grandfather cloack, and the other, the leader, bleeding out in the airship on the return trip. However, the minute Gerald had turned over the Grimoire, Dalon forgot about them, snatched the book, and laughing maniacally, ran into his office and slammed the heavy double doors. He only allowed refreshments to be sent in, he had cancelled his meetings, turned away all sorts of people, and even stopped threatening his employees. Nothing but silence from the room until one day, during the storm, Dalon threw the doors open wide and shouted for Gerald and several mercenary leaders to enter the office. Gerald, recently promoted to second-in-command of the Blackguards, stood there in the room with the leaders of Dalon's closest mercenaries and officers.

Among the groups present, Gerald recognized the leaders of the biggest mercenary companies in the country: the Black Vipers, Sabaton Mercs, Blood Aces, Claimjumpers, Pickaxes, the Whiplashes, and of course the Blackguards, what surprised him however were the four men standing behind Dalon's desk. Gerald only recognized one of them, but that and the fact they were wearing the same uniforms, was all he needed; Dalon's personal bodyguards, the leaders of the infamous Titan Guard, the most expensive, ruthless, merciless, well-equipped, and fanatical mercenaries in the nation's history. The TG, as they were known due to the fact that every member of their company had a large TG branded into his back and neck, were known as a 'last resort' type of mercenary, they had an acceptable losses policy and had a 'when in doubt, shoot the hostage' attitude. If you were not important enough to keep alive, you could kiss your ass goodbye. Dalon was the only person that still hired the TG, hell, he was the only client wealthy and crazy enough to hire them. A few minutes of sizing up the mercenaries in the room, the door opened and in came Dalon, Grimoire in hand, he walked past them, went to his chair and sat down. One of the soldiers next to him produced a cigar and lit it for him. Dalon nodded thoughtfully and then looked at people assembled in front.

"Gentlemen, I suppose you are curious about why I called all of you here today. Well wonder no more. For many years I knew that our dear old friend James de Launces was keeping his best inventions secret, but now I have here the book that has the blueprints for every weapon he classifies as 'too dangerous'. Well, by now I'm sure you've all read the headlines in the Syllian Tribune, "Launces Mechanist Saves the Day with New Inventions";" the mercenaries all nodded, "Well, I can say that if he had developed some of _these_ weapons, he would have won the battle with no casualties on our side. For instance, what uses could you think of for a gas that causes the enemy to suffocate on their own breath and, or a portable weapon that can incinerate a squad, or even better here, a chemical that once it hits an enemy, it cannot be washed off; it also sears the enemies' flesh, melting it, and is also highly flammable! What kind of fool would keep these weapons from our military; well, their loss is our gain. I had the Blackguards disguise themselves as Federation troops and steal the Grimoire, while James and his pet dragons are razing the Federation trying to get the book back, we'll be here supercharging our arsenals with these new weapons, and I already have a target in mind once we get the weapons made and distributed." One of the Claimjumpers raised his hand.

"Where is the target sir?" Dalon looked at the man, sighed and nodded to one of the TG by him. Gerald watched as the TG soldier drew a massive revolver and fired, killing the man. With a quick flourish, he holstered the weapon.

"Thank you Captain Percival, you gentlemen know how I hate to be interrupted, however, I cannot answer that question now; however, I will reveal it in due time. Now if there are no more questions, you are all dismissed." The mercenaries all filed out, the two remaining Claimjumpers a bit quicker than the others. Gerald was the last and closed the door.

Dalon quickly walked over to the bookshelf and saw the book labeled '_The Absolutes of Life_' and pulled it. The bookshelf slid open and he walked down a narrow flight of stairs. No one knew of this room, it was his personal workshop and the room of his greatest discovery. He opened the steel door and walked in, his boots echoing off the stone floor, all around the room were machines and apparatuses that none but him knew what they were for. Setting the Grimoire aside, he walked into another little room where, in the middle, a giant purple and black crystal was housed, Dalon had discovered the crystal five years ago and was enthralled by its beauty, however this crystal was special.

As Dalon rested his hand on the crystal, the aura within the gem pulsed, a deep, dark voice echoed from within.

"_Well done General, I see these 'Blackguards' are more reliable than I had previously thought._" Dalon smiled.

"I thank you for the compliment milord; however, I still berated the unit for losing soldiers on a simple snatch and grab mission. They were sloppy, and in my opinion sloppy work is highly taboo, all missions must be carried out with precision and speed. Don't you agree?" The aura pulsed again and a deep laughter was heard within.

"_Indeed, perhaps when I regain my physical form I shall mete out retribution for the delay and the 'sloppiness', as you called it, of the mission. By the way, I heard your little speech up above, this 'Mechanical Count' James de Launces, he seems incredibly talented, maybe you should try talking him into joining us?_" Dalon shook his head.

"It wouldn't work milord; James is a straight arrow, he believes in honor, the greater good, and saving as many lives as possible, he does not know the meaning of 'collateral damage' and plus he is simply too good. He has talent, aye, but he does not use the talent for his own gain, he only wishes to benefit the nation. Besides, I found out that those Southland dragons you were speaking of, Spyro and Cynder are there, they would _never _allow James to consent to something he considers immoral and evil. He sees everything in black and white, either it is good or it's evil, he is not like me, I see the shades of grey and can accept lesser evils if the outcome is the same. As the old saying goes, you can't make an omelet without breaking an egg." The aura pulsed again, this time the laughter was louder.

"_Indeed, I know the type of person you speak of well. However, if he cannot be swayed, he will have to be destroyed eventually. Once I regain my body I may decide to do it personally._" Dalon nodded.

"If you want something done right, do it yourself. I learned that the hard way during the war. By the way milord, I've been meaning to ask your name, if you don't mind." The aura pulsed darker.

"_Before that wretched purple dragon and his mate trapped me in here, I was known as Malefor. Now that you have my name, do _not_ utter it in public and especially not in front of any dragons here, there is a chance some of them know of me and I am especially vulnerable to attack in this crystal. If you can get me the army I need, I will keep finding materials for you to use. You don't have to pay a 'copper' for the materials you need, and I get my new army of loyal, dedicated soldiers."_ Dalon nodded enthusiastically; however, he was unaware of a mysterious figure watching from the next room.

Gerald was freaked out, he _knew_ Dalon was mad, but this clenched it, he knew that if Dalon got this army things would go to shit real fast; however, he had worked this long, all he had to do was keep up the cover until he had the chance to bolt. True, he owed his life to the Blackguards for finding him on Callen's Hill near death, however, that debt was repaid in full when he turned his own gun on his father. He had mourned so much on the return trip, however, he knew that if they detected any weakness, they'd kill him. He had to keep his grief bottled up otherwise, his father's death would have been for nothing.

(_Dammit Father, why'd you have to barge into that room and announce yourself like that?! If only I could have found him before hand and explained everything to him he might still be alive. If only the telegraph lines weren't wired to require Dalon's permission to send anything. I can only leave the city when I am part of a contract and the next one was the one I _need_ to alert the government on. Wait a second, the airships have independent radios, the only risk is it's an open frequency and you don't know who else will be listening; I threw my past away when I joined these murderers, now it seems that fate wants me to live with my actions. I'm over thinking this, it'll take some time for Dalon to create the machines he needs, in the meantime, I'll throw out some old feelers and try to get a hold on one of those telegraphs. The problem with having so many of something, there's bound to be one that's unguarded at some point. I just need to find which one.)_ With that, Gerald threw his cloak over his head and walked into the rain, making a beeline for the 'Drunken Grouse Inn', and hopefully, his old comrade was not too drunk to get him the info he needed.

Spyro stood well from the center platform in the middle of the castle, he saw a vein standing out on James' head, clearly showing he was livid at the accusation that he had been with withholding military machines for his own personal use. The little sneak who had brought forth the accusation stood near the human James had said was General Nathaniel Reed, the commander of the Syllian Royal Marines, however, there were people he recognized as friends. Sky Lord Voltarus had his seat on the far left side of the room, Lord Admiral Greagor was seated next to Reed, all the while with a sour expression on his face; Lord General Williams was seated on Reed's other side watching the traitorous man with disdain.

James had never seen this coming, just three hours after Bertram's funeral, he received a summons to appear in Royalis to answer charges brought forth by a warehouse employee who had thought he would be rewarded for bringing certain information to light. Looking around he saw a council of civilian merchants on the right side, while the military council sat on the left. The biggest mystery was the man who sat in the center; he sat in a large throne and wore a blue Syllian uniform with a red cape behind him. He appeared to be no older than James' daughter, yet he carried himself with an air of someone _much_ older. The military council, with the exception of Reed, all bore venomous expressions; the civilian council were all smug and silent. James had explained it to him and Cynder before they arrived.

"They want my blueprints is all," James had said; "with me out of the way and deposed as Syllia's sole mechanist, they will take my blueprints and charge the military what they want for them. That fool Reed doesn't get it, once those designs get into the hands of those _vipers_," he had spat the word, "they will short the military valuable designs and charge outlandish prices to create the next invention or update the current machine, in a time of war delays cost lives."

Spyro didn't understand much, but he _did _understand what he was saying. These merchants were some of James' biggest competitors for the military's contracts; James wasn't in charge of a monopoly, he simply believed in giving the military the best he could build at the cheapest price; these leeches only cared for their own pockets. James was a veteran, he understood that a military buys its weapons and equipment at the lowest possible cost in order to keep its numbers up and its troops equipped. As a noble he didn't _need_ money, he could give the military his best and charge rock bottom prices; the only reason he charged _anything_ was because he needed to pay his employees; these people were wealthy and _wanted_ the money and would line their own pockets with it. The little sneak was probably promised some outlandish sum in exchange for James' secrets. Watching the man speak lie after lie made him sick; James looked about ready to throttle the man.

"Furthermore, Your Graces," said the man in his oiled voice, "the inventions I have learned of that are being postponed until they are supposedly _needed_ to be built are as such, the lists I provided to you as evidence are the inventions that I _know _of; who knows how many more are still hidden. One in particular I've only heard the name of is the 'Juggernaut'." Admiral Greagor looked at his list and went red-faced; he leapt up from his chair with a shout.

"Now see here you little wretch, the _Arkibus_-class carrier is a design that has been proven in battle; what can _you,_ a _civilian_, know about refitting a ship that is just as long as our most powerful battleships; according to Count de Launces' financial reports, _you_ were kicked off the refit before she was even _cleaned_. Every sailor knows a when you refit a ship, you get the old paint and grime off the hull. I request the council dismiss these lists due to the fact that this man has _never_ finished the project to which he was assigned, again, the financial records show that the longest he has ever been on a project was one week, and that one week was on the Skuass Naval Gun, he only had time to measure the fastening bolts and the barrel diameter before he was kicked off, literally, I might add, for being intoxicated on the job." A merchant council member stood up next.

"Be that as it may Admiral, the informant's soberness holds no meaning in this trial, we simply wish that if Lord James will not rush those designs, he turn the unfinished designs over to us for our personal factories to complete them, it could be there is no wrong doing, it could simply be that his factories are tasked to capacity. If that is so, would it not be wise to share the load?" James turned to the man.

"You left out sharing the profit, however, for a machine I would charge five coppers for, you bloodsuckers would charge one silver!" Spyro swore he heard one of the men growl.

(Aha! So that is the reason for this farce!) Spyro thought, he leaned and whispered it to James who nodded grimly. The man who growled noticed this and stood.

"Your Graces, why are we allowing this _foreigner_ into one of our sessions; to be honest, this is a matter amongst _men_ not _dragons_." Voltarus harrumphed loudly and caught the attention of the man, who abruptly shut up and sat back down, eliciting a few snickers from the military council. A quick glance from the man in the center silenced them also. James took the chance to speak.

"Your Graces, it is true that the factories are working around the clock to make machines for this war against the Federation, however, this is hardly the time to worry about a bill of sale. The enemy is on our doorstep, and the Grimoire, the book I'm certain you jackals are after, was stolen by the Federation." The civilian council looked stunned, they probably _had _wanted the Grimoire in the first place; it was no secret the Grimoire held the most powerful and as such the most _expensive_ of his machines. Spyro saw many of them in glare in rage, others in worry. The military council, on the other hand, started with shock and perhaps a touch of fear. James then did something shocking, he stepped out of the center platform and approached the man on the throne. Spyro heard many council members on both sides gasp and saw the man's guards tighten their grips on their weapons. He stopped next to the sneak and, much to Spyro's shock, took a knee.

"Your Majesty, I beg you to see past their conniving plots. To profit during a time of war is immoral is it not? Instead, allow me to pose a solution, General Reed is my accuser is he not? Well, allow him to send someone of Your Majesty's choosing to Launces and become my apprentice, this way, my designs stay in the military circle and the Marines get a liaison with me. It's a solution that can't backfire. In the end, the question this trial posed is answered, and the military will _still_ get the machines they need at low cost. As always, I only request payment so that I can pay my employees, nothing more." The man, who Spyro now realized was the King of Syllia, looked thoughtfully at James, then at the merchant council who was absolutely seething with anger. The military council held their collective breath. The King at last let out a breath, the first sound he'd made during this entire 'trial', and stood up.

"James de Launces, Count of Launces, I can find no reason to doubt you in your motivations or convictions, you have always tried to do the best you could and have stood fast and firm against the enemies of our nation during both times of war and peace. You were a loyal supporter of my father and you were my mentor years ago, you are the man who modernized our armed forces and are considered by many to be a hero for your actions years ago. I have read several reports about your machines role in turning the tide of battle. However, there is one thing I'm curious about; why build a machine that can fly, surely the Dracocorps are enough?"Spyro saw James brace himself and glance cautiously at Voltarus before taking a deep breath.

"Your Majesty, the reason for the aeroplane is a simple yet harsh reality. As you know I am one of the few humans the dragon's ruler Titanus trusts with touring the dragon settlements, the aeroplanes are _not_ meant to replace the Dracocorps, it is meant solely to take pressure off the dragons. According to the last records of births and deaths due to either battle or natural causes, the overall population has dropped by ten percent. The dragons of Syllia are dying out, the Dracocorps barely has one third the number of dragons they used to. If we don't give the dragons time to rest and uh, do what must be done, we may a soon have Dracocorps without dragons." Voltarus was shocked, he of course had known about the dwindling numbers of recruits, but not even _he_ had known it was this bad. Indeed, the military council regarded the news with startled expressions. However, the sneak, who had been silent for a while, suddenly spoke up.

"Your Majesty, why should we care about some giant glorified lizards? _Their _population is n_ot _why we're here, why _I'm _here!" The merchant council chuckled lightly at the remark. The King and his men sat horrified by the man's statement; a sound started echoing throughout the chamber. The man turned to see Spyro growling lowly and Voltarus sparking electricity between his teeth. The man realizing his mistake stepped back and bumped against someone, turning sharply, he found himself coming face to fist with James de Launces.

Spyro stopped growling when James gave the sneak a right cross and knocked him flat on the marble floor. Indeed, as soon as the man hit the floor, Voltarus and several military officers started laughing, the merchant council, on the other hand was shrieking for James to be placed under arrest. It took several moments for the bailiff to restore order. However, James was not in the wrong; it was a known fact that soldiers in the Dracocorps, in particular the Dragoons, were known to be less diplomatic when someone badmouthed their unit, or the dragons they served with. James, being a former Brigadier General in the Dragoons, was apparently no exception. The civilian council clamored for James to be restrained, however, an aide came up to Admiral Greagor and gave him a letter; the General read it and stood.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty, but I have some information that just came to light that may shed some light on the man's willingness to throw Lord James under the bus. This man's name as you know is Albert Mahgut; his brother, Francis Mahgut, is the man we arrested for attempting to sabotage the _Arkibus' _pumps during its sea trials when we were attacked. James then remembered something else.

"You said Mahgut, right; I remember him, I fired him personally for carelessness on the job and for attempting to strike a baby dragon who'd wondered into a warehouse looking for his mother; this man was a disgrace." The merchant council started to speak amongst themselves, obviously aware that their attempt to steal James' designs went out the window with this bit of information. Indeed, a few moments later, the King ordered Mahgut to be taken away and delivered the verdict.

"I, Edward von Royalis, King of Syllia, do declare the charges against Count James de Launces dropped. The court is hereby dismissed."

With a deep sigh, James turned and left with Spyro behind him. As he stepped through the door, he heard a voice behind them; Spyro turned to see the Syllian King running towards them, two of his servants trailing behind him. James turned and looked questioningly.

"Your Majesty, what is wrong?" The young man smiled broadly.

"You know you can call me Eddy when we're not at anything formal, we're still family are we not cousin?" James nodded, all the rigidity of the court proceedings fading into nothingness, he relaxed into his old self. Then, much to Spyro's surprise, he started laughing.

"Eddy, you are nothing if not calm, so may I ask what's going on?" Then Eddy started laughing as well.

"You see through me as always. I guess now I know why Father had you tutor me all those years ago, but that's beside the point," Eddy took a serious tone, "First off, let me say I'm sorry for having you rush out here so soon after Bertram's death; I tried to delay it as long as possible, but those damned bloodsuckers wanted to catch you in a moment of weakness, they probably thought you would capitulate to their demands while you were still reeling from his loss, again you have my condolences. Second, I wanted to hear if the rumor was true or not, you initiated a political and military alliance with the Southlands through the marriage of your daughter Thera," James nodded quickly, "Well then," Eddy continued, "who's the lucky man or drake as the rumor has been going." James smiled.

"How would you like to meet him? Besides, the ceremony I performed was only a betrothal ceremony; the wedding has yet to be planned. Thera wanted to hold it off until she could be sure the war was over." Eddy nodded as he heard these words, then, he snapped his fingers.

"I know; let's all go to the Circuit, I hear that tomorrow is one of the most anticipated races of the season, apparently, Thomas Rolf is supposed to be returning to the track. Everyone in Royalis has been awaiting his return since that accident of his three years ago." James nodded, then saw Spyro's curious glance.

"Oh, that's right; You've never heard of Circuit Racing before have you Spyro?" Spyro shook his head.

"No, never have, is it something special?" James and Eddy both laughed.

"You could say that, you see, after I created the steam car, Lysa, back when she was my assistant, came up with an idea for a two wheeled machine that ran on steam. She called it a 'Steam Runner', first prototypes were slow and prone to accidents, however, that all changed with the discovery of three things. During my expeditions into Northumbria, I discovered a natural water source that was extremely rich in minerals and had a low boiling point for water, then, I discovered huge reserves of titanium, a super strong, yet lightweight metal buried deep in the mountains, finally, I was touring one of the dragon cities, Ignious, I believe, where I found a remarkable structure made entirely of crystal. I'd heard about crystals such as these but never thought of trying to adapt them, there were only two that seemed to work, a fire crystal and an ice crystal. The fire crystal proved an easier solution to using coal or wood furnaces to make steam and was the gentler of the two. The ice crystal however, proved to be quite volatile."

"Volatile; How was it proven volatile, whatever that means?"

"Volatile means that something is prone to exploding or releasing a huge amount of energy in a short period of time. A fellow mechanist named Rhys Arctis, began experimenting with the ice crystals, a young Franklin Stein was his assistant. Originally the tests went well, it was discovered that if an ice crystal is exposed to any source of heat or moisture it flash steams, however, normal steam is hot and can burn you, steam from an ice crystal is super cold. Poor Rhys found that out the hard way, he was flushing the pipes when a careless technician turned on the machine and the crystal flash steamed. The pressure release was so great it shattered the pipes, something going from cold to hot and back again caused the pipes to rupture enveloping Rhys in super cold steam, Stein reached into the cloud and pulled Rhys out but the damage had been done. Rhys had been frozen solid by his exposure, Stein got out of it only losing his arms and his left foot to frostbite. I was able to create a few prosthetic limbs for him but he still suffers phantom pains in what's left in his arms. After the incident, I discovered titanium was the only metal accessible to Syllia that could contain cold steam. Just after I married Lysa, I discovered the answer."

Spyro looked at James awkwardly, he'd never heard him talk this much in depth about any one invention, he went on to describe a titanium 'ball' he made with an ice crystal fixed inside, simply flood the 'cell' with the rare mineral water and you had instant steam. A few enterprising individuals retrofitted their steam runners with these 'steam cells' and noticed their speed improved. A steam runner without the cell barely made thirty miles per hour, with the cell and a specially made condenser 'coil', speeds rocketed past one-hundred. It didn't take long for people to make dirt, brick, and in some cases, cross-country circuits in which heats or groups of fifteen to forty racers would ride their runners and try to come in first place. When Spyro asked about Thomas Rolf, Eddy smiled.

"Thomas Rolf is a hero in the world of Steam Circuit Racing, he was one of the original runners and he won the first national race called the 'Shiner's Run', he has won over thirty races and suffered several crashes. However three years ago, someone tampered with his runner while betting on the races. When Rolf crashed, he broke his legs, his back and both shoulders. Many thought he was done for, however, he underwent a surgery pioneered by Bertram during the war and two weeks ago announced his comeback. He's going to race in the Royalis Grand Prix as his comeback. This was the first race he won during his career and he wants it to be the first victory of his comeback. In fact James, you still have your old runner don't you? That would be incredible, the both of you going at it again, it would be a hearkening to your days with Team Broadsword or Team Typhoon, don't you think?" James looked skeptical at first then shrugged.

"I don't know if I'd be any good at it seeing it's been several years, still, you don't know what you can do until you try, at least, that's what Father and Bertram always told me. Heh, maybe I will race." Spyro looked at James questioningly.

"James, if the race is so dangerous won't Lysa object?" James stopped for a moment, placed his hand on his chin for a second and then waved it.

"Nah, she won't care, besides she always liked seeing the Circuit Races when she had a chance."

"James de Launces, I absolutely, positively, forbid you to enter that race," Lysa ranted as James tried to get a word in, however, she was cutting him off every chance she got; "This is _not_ the same kind of Circuit Racing we used to watch and enjoy when I was pregnant with Thera, it's so much more dangerous and violent and people are always betting, fighting, or drinking. I know that you're going to say it's not _that _dangerous, still, you just finished saving Launces from the Federation, I'd say you earned a rest, but if you go into this race you may just rest in peace. Bottom line, we may go and _watch _the race, but you are getting nowhere _near_ that track or a steam runner. She turned on her heel and stalked off leaving James gaping like a fish out of water.

Spyro and Eddy looked up from where they were sitting. Eddy smiled a broad smile.

"So she won't care if you decide to race, eh? Sounds to me she's had a change of heart over the years." James shook his head.

"Still, I know I left my old runner here in the manor garage, all I need to do is dust it off and enter before she knows it; besides, it'll be good for the kids to see what I used to do before becoming a father and mechanist." Eddy looked at where Lysa had walked off to and sighed.

"Whatever cousin, it's you're funeral, just don't try hiding behind me when Lysa finds out, _I'm _in no rush to try my luck wrestling a dragoness. You go through with this, you're on your own." James smiled and proceeded to walk outside and head for the manor's old garage.

There we are, Chapter 10, sorry it took so long, my old internet browser shut off for some reason so I had to go to a new one. Well, it seems that Malefor is back, Gerald is actually a 'good' guy, and a Circuit race is about to start, will James go against his dragoness wife's wishes and enter the race? laughing maliciously Oh, don't worry, _I_ know what is going to happen; but I'm not telling, you'll just have to keep reading. Chapter 11 speeding your way. And as always, please rate and review!


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 is here, writer's block part 2, I decided to follow the Circuit Racing train of thought and see where I end up.

Chapter 11: Ready, Set, Haul Ass!

Edward "Eddy" von Royalis sat in the skybox overlooking the circuit around the track, the only other people sitting with him were his guards, Lysa and her children, Spyro, Cynder, Ignitus, and their two daughters. Thera was in dragon form and she was snuggled next to Ignitus and had her tail wrapped around his, unbeknownst to her, he was busy trying to calm down, the _last_ thing he wanted here was an aroused situation here in the skybox. He was flustered enough when he learned that he was going to be calling the King of Syllia 'cousin'; that little bit of information stunned Cynder and Spyro both. Still, he saw Thera in a new light, she was more than his mate, she was an important and beloved member of the Syllian nobility one that was adored by countless people and especially loved by the King. He took a deep breath and went in next to her and draped a wing over her, she giggled and nudged ever closer to him.

Eddy saw the two love birds and chuckled to himself, he was glad that Thera had finally found someone to love her, then he looked at Lysa and noticed the worried expression on her face and those of her two sons.

"Lysa, don't worry, I'm sure James will be fine. This isn't his first race you know." Lysa looked at him, her expression was a mixed set of emotions: fear, anger, hope and love, all of these she felt for James right now and she hoped he would win the race, then a trumpet fanfare echoed across the track and a man appeared with a speaking trumpet.

"Ladies, and Gentlemen, may I have you attention please, the annual Royalis Grand Prix is about to begin, will all racers please move to the starting line," as he said this a group of twenty people began moving for the starting line on the track, "and now ladies and gentlemen, first may I present two veterans of the sport who are returning from their hiatus, first: I present to you, a veteran racer who is also the man who _created_ the sport of Circuit Racing, you know him, you love him, he is your hometown hero; Thomas Rolf!" The crowd went absolutely ballistic, even Eddy and his guards were cheering. Thomas Rolf raised his hand and started waving to the crowds. Lysa saw James standing next to Rolf, clapping his hands. Then the announcer continued.

"Second: ladies and gentlemen, we have a real treat for you, the next veteran is one of the first racers to win the Launces Sprint and the Shiner's Run, he is the man who created the Steam Runner, that's right, I am speaking of the Mechanical Count himself, ladies and gentlemen, James de Launces!" The crowd gasped at first then started cheering, the skybox cheering loudest of all, even Thera was cheeing loudly. Then Rolf turned to face James and they shook hands like old friends.

"Now then, without further adieu, racers: to your runners," everyone went to their runners, Rolf went to his runner, numbered nine, James went to runner seven. Then, James grabbed the steel bowl helmet and pulled his riding goggles down, the announcer nodded, "Gentlemen: fire your engines."

James pulled the lever on the left side and then stomped on the starter by his right foot. The runner came to life with a roar, steam rushed out of the sides of the engine and a series of eight pistons on each side started pumping furiously, the gauge display in front of James came to life, four small gauges marked water, pressure, oil, and temperature, the big center gauge measured speed. James gripped the handlebars and revved the engine. The other runners also started and soon twenty steam runners were idling on the starting line. The announcer then drew a flare gun, pointed it up, and fired.

With a roar the racers were off, Rolf settling into fifth and James in sixth; however, not fifteen feet from the line, one of the runners released a cloud of steam and whistled like a kettle on a stove. Another one started billowing steam and smoke.

"Oh, it looks like Albert Grant on number thirteen is already out with what looks to be a blown condenser coil, also it looks like Jonathan Reed on number six is having trouble getting up to speed, the flagman is waving the black flag for number six, well, all we can say if better luck next time for thirteen and six. The racers are already making the first turn and it looks like Rolf is already making a play for third and de Launces has jumped to fourth. Let's see, Hammerstead still holds the lead in first, Ivanson is in second, Rolf and Keely are tied neck and neck for third, de Launces is still holding onto fourth and Decker is fighting to stay in fifth place, Holt, Foster, and Moran are fighting each other to take fifth away from Decker." At that moment an audible '_clang_', echoed and Moran's runner, five, swerved and slammed into Foster which in turn slammed into Decker. Then, James hit the accelerator and shot past Keely and was now tied with Rolf for third.

James spared a glance at Rolf and he motioned that he was going for first. James nodded and made way for Rolf to charge forward. Then followed closely behind and made to slingshot past him and take second. The crowd saw this move and went absolutely wild, the announcer piped up.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not sure what we just witnessed; is the legendary rivalry of Rolf and de Launces resurfacing after all these years, or are the two paying homage to their days as teammates of Team Broadsword?" Spyro heard this and looked questioningly at Lysa and Eddy; Lysa caught on and answered.

"Years ago, when the sport of Circuit Racing was just starting, James and Rolf were members of one of the first racing teams: Team Broadsword. They placed first and second in several races and Broadsword was set to win the first national circuit run, now called the Syllian Nationals, however, the man who started Team Broadsword was rumored to be linked with criminal organizations who fixed the races. Needless to say, once this came to light, James and Rolf left before they got too involved. For a while they were on their own until Rolf went solo and James signed with another team. That was the 'rivalry' the announcer was speaking of. James only raced for five years, he spent one with team Broadsword, six months as freelance, then the rest was with Team Typhoon, a few days after he signed with them, he raced against Team Rapier's ace, much to his surprise, it was Rolf. Their rivalry lasted three years and ended when they tied for first during the Border Run. Shortly after that Thera turned four and James hung it up to become a full time father. Rolf kept racing until the accident a few years ago, many thought it sabotage but nobody could prove it. To have these two racing again and pick up where they left off speaks volumes about their friendship." Spyro nodded and turned his attention back to the race, James and Rolf were now neck and neck, tied for first. Suddenly, there was another huge crash, however, one runner managed to slip through and continue.

Eddy couldn't place it, but there was something off about the rider of runner sixteen, the way he dodged those crashes and weaved his way into third place was interesting, now there were only ten racers left in the race. As they crossed the line for the third time the white flag came out signaling the last lap. James was in first, Rolf in second and the stranger in third. Then Rolf slingshot passed James and took the lead with the stranger gliding up beside James.

James looked to his left and saw runner sixteen approaching and he prepared to block him, however, at that moment, the rider took his left hand off the brake, reached for his coat and drew a small revolver from an inside pocket. In a flash the rider aimed and fired a shot, just missing James' right arm. Shortly after, all hell broke loose.

The report of the shot echoed sharply throughout the track, people started screaming in terror as they recognized the rider of number sixteen was firing at James. Eddy ordered his guards to get down to the track and stop the assassin, however, Eddy noted that the assassin would probably kill James and be gone before anyone could get down there.

Another report echoed as the second shot was fired; another miss. James was swerving back and forth trying to dodge the assassins bullets; another shot, this one grazed his right arm. A quick follow up shot hit the runner and steam began to vent from the engine.

(_Damn,)_ James thought, (_he's hit the condenser, I only have enough power left to try one more maneuver, if this fails I'm dead._) He stomped down hard on the switch next to his left foot, the runner's steam driver kicked in and the runner lurched and then took off with a roar, a thick pillar of steam pouring from behind. The assassin did likewise and tried to catch up, just as he did however, James saw Rolf barrel in and slam the runner then break away leaving the assassin dazed. James then did the same, he barreled into the runner, only this time he reached over onto the runner and pulled the emergency kill switch, and pulled away. The vents on either side of the runner opened and huge clouds of steam billowed from the runner, the assassin, unable to maintain control, skidded sideways and flipped several times until he was thrown off and skidded across into the guard wall, a few seconds later the runner fell on the man pinning his left arm and legs under the burning hot engine. As he tried to push the machine off, he found roughly ten guns pointed at him as members of the security detail rushed to subdue him.

James and Rolf turned the last curve and saw the checkered flag, they nodded to each other and they both gunned the throttle down the home stretch, with a final slingshot, Rolf came in first, James in second. The crowd began cheering loudly for not only Rolf's comeback, but for both his and James' heroics in stopping the assassin. As James and Rolf shook hands, Rolf noticed blood on James right arm and started yelling for the circuit medic.

James sat down as gently as he could in his Royalis manor and grimaced as he felt pain course through where the bullet had hit. He had originally thought it only a graze, however, the pain and blood loss confirmed it to be a solid hit. His right arm was bandaged, but thankfully he was no worse for wear, aside from the jarring ache in his hips and rear from the jolts from the runner's seat. He leaned back into the chair and sighed.

"I going to have to remember to try to create softer seating for those runners, those wooden seats aren't going to cut it forever." At that moment, Lysa threw open the doors and sprinted across the room to him, her faced a mix of anger, relief, and fear. She was obviously about to cry when he eased up and wrapped his good arm around her. She wrapped both her arms around him and started weeping into his shoulder.

"You big idiot; I _told_ you not to enter that race, why, oh, why did you not listen?" James sighed and held her closer; out of the corner of his eye he saw Thera and the others just outside. He could tell Thera had been crying as well.

"I never thought I would be the target of an assassin on a race track, I'm actually curious as to who sent him after me." At that moment a soldier walked in and saluted, James nodded back to the man.

"Sir, I'm Master Sergeant Henry Busser, of His Majesty's Royal Guard; I have been assigned as your personal bodyguard by order of the King. As to your query about the assassin, he took poison before he was brought to the jail, however, we were able to discover he was hired by an organization called 'The Committee', basically, you know those rumors about how there is no organized crime in the country? Well, those statements are false. The Committee operates out of Shoreline City, the only thing is, their leaders are crafty, they can weasel their way out of any situation through means of bribes, extortion, or brute force. Why the Committee wants you dead, no one has a clue, however, the best bet would be if we could get a hold of the Committee's leader, the so called 'Boss of All Bosses', we could find out what their deal is. We know he's holed up in his base Libra Tower, all we need is the permission to enter and take him into custody. That is where we stand now." James nodded and thought for a moment. Then Lysa spoke up, an edge of fury in her voice.

"Master Sergeant, how many soldiers are going to arrest this Committee leader?"

"We have over three hundred soldiers, mostly Dragoons, ready to storm the tower as soon as Lord James gives his permission." James eased back into the chair, a stern expression on his face.

"You have it; bring me this 'Boss of All Bosses', I'd very much like to ask him why he ordered me killed. I'm also very sure the King would like to hear his peace, as would my wife." Henry saluted, turned on his heel and strode out of the room. James' confident expression quickly changed to one of worry.

"The Committee's leader, damn this is a fine mess. I survive an attack from a 'rogue element' of the Federation's armed forces only to have a threat much closer to home try to kill me. As far as I know this is the first time they've tried to assassinate a member of the nobility. I thought they had more honor than that, unless this is payback for that court meeting." Lysa and Spyro looked at James confused.

"James," spoke Lysa, "why would they care about a court meeting with the King?" James' voice took on a darker tone and he rested his chin on his good hand.

"It's all too likely that some of those merchants on the civilian council are members of the Committee, or are on the Committee's payroll. By denying them the blueprints, I denied the Committee the blueprints to make weapons for free, they would only need the blueprints of one weapon to wreak untold havoc in the streets; so far they keep to Shoreline, however, they may be branching out. Trying to expand their territory; if this happens, the Syllian Army is _not _equipped to handle a war on the home front and a possible war abroad at the same time; the results of trying to do so would be catastrophic." James got up and walked to the nearby window and stared out into the city; the windows of the nearby buildings reflecting the light from the setting sun.

(_The Boss of all Bosses, huh,_) thought James, (_let's hope he's in a mood to actually speak._)

The mercenaries were gathered again in Dalon's office, Gerald cursed that he was not able to get the message out in time. Still, Dalon didn't suspect him and that was something he could work with, the only problem was this Malefor character, Gerald had to figure this out fast otherwise the Federation would be the _least _of Syllia's worries. At that moment, Dalon appeared behind them and walked to his desk, he sat down and his smile vaguely reminded him of a crocodile. Dalon then sat up and looked them in the eyes.

"Gentlemen, the machines have been built, thanks mainly to the Sabaton Mercenaries for getting those imbeciles to stop their strike and get back to work, and now it is time for my plan to begin; my own personal ships will transport and guard the army." Gerald held his breath, Dalon had just gave a clue about the target, but what was it, a retaliatory strike against the Federation, an incursion against Shildhaven, or was it something worse?

Dalon smiled at the feeling of excitement and anticipation in the air, he saw the Blackguards were the most excited of all.

"This is the map of our target, we'll be landing in a small settlement here called Gnorc Harbor, our target to capture is the city of Warfang, here. It is a long march, but the harbor is the only area that can supply our needs, plus, according to reports, the area is led by a Gnasty Gnorc and his armed forces are considered pushovers, the nation has only three large land masses and several small islands; that's right gentlemen, we're invading the Southlands." Gerald was dumbstruck, Dalon was invading the dragons' homeland.

Okay, I think the writer's block has passed, so, James apparently has a hit on him, and Dalon is invading the Dragon Realms; hang on tight 'cause this rollercoaster is just about to drop! As always, please rate and review!


	13. Chapter 12

Hey ya'll, Chapter 12 is now up and ready to read. I hope ya'll enjoy it! As always, please rate and review!

Chapter 12: Seclusion and Surprise

Ignitus and Thera lay together on the flagstones of the castle courtyard, the heat from the sun pleasant on their scales; after getting yelled at by Cynder for being caught mating, again, they lounged about and watched their younger siblings play around in the garden. They had their tails wrapped around and were enjoying the sound of laughter. Thera's younger brothers knew that _something_ was making their mother extremely overprotective of their father, they just didn't know what it was. Since the return to Launces, Lysa had been hovering over James like a mother hen, fussing over every little detail. Truth be told, it was funny to watch; James however, didn't even pay it any attention. While in Royalis, he had purchased a new book and had started on new blueprints. He was under constant guard, not only was Havvers on alert, Henry Busser had also been assigned to the protection detail, and the two of them stood by the door to the workshop whenever he was in there. Thera was glad to see her father back into good spirits, however, she was concerned about the blueprints he was designing; ever since the 'trial' and the theft of the Grimoire, he was bent over the workbench and scribbling on the blank pages. James had always designed two sets of blueprints for a weapon, the actual weapon, and a weapon to destroy the machine should it fall into the wrong hands. He was worried about the Grimoire for a reason, the deadliest weapons that for some reason he had _not _designed countermeasures for were in that book, now he was frantically trying to design blueprints for weapons and chemicals that could destroy or render the machine useless. She turned and looked at Ignitus, and then, with a sly look on her face, she got up and pulled Ignitus into a deep kiss before they both bolted up to the her room's balcony.

James' brain was in overdrive, there was one design he was worried about in particular that had been in the Grimoire, the HT-16; the tanks that had fought in the Battle of Launces had been designated T-5LS, basically Tank Model 5 Light Scout, the Heavy Tank Model 16 was a massive battle tank that required a crew of ten. If the Federation managed to produce the HT-16 like they produced those war dirigibles, they would be in a heap of trouble. The problem with building tanks was that not every blueprint worked, some were too complex, some were too simple, and some were just downright ridiculous. The HT-16 was a combination of every good part of the tank blueprints, it had thick armor, a powerful engine, and high firepower; the only disadvantage was that the tank was incredibly expensive, one factory could crank out twenty T-5s as compared to one HT-16, as long as the blueprints were secure there was no need for anything greater, things had changed rather quickly.

The waste basket beside James was overflowing with bad ideas and flawed designs, however, with each flawed design, there was one part that was good and he transferred that part to the new design. Then there was the so-called 'super weapon' that was being built; the Juggernaut was to be the ultimate mobile machine. The only thing that was missing was a proper condenser. As the sun sank, he finally finished the new tank, he copied the blueprint into the book and passed the blueprint paper off to a courier who would run it to the main factory in Launces. There was another project that he was working on called 'Grand Aegis', which was so top secret, not even Lysa knew about it.

(_One thing at a time James,_) he thought to himself, (_if the war takes the turn for the worst, _then_ it will be time to focus on those machines, however, the time is not right._) He sighed and sank back into his chair, he had designed over twenty countermeasures and had rushed all of them to the couriers. As he stepped out of the room and saw a man approaching him and saluted.

"Sir, the Boss of All Bosses, has actually come _here _to speak with you, he says it's urgent." James, Henry, and Jonathan's eyes shot open and at that moment the door to the library opened and in came a man and two bodyguards. The man in front was shorter than James and rounder, he wore a suit and a long coat, his guards were dressed in the same way. A few moments later, Lysa came in the room with a rush, she looked ready to fight, as did Spyro who came in a few seconds later. The Boss looked at the shapeshifting dragoness (who was now in dragon form), and the actual dragon, and tipped his hat. He walked over to the chair across from James and sat down, then he looked James in the eyes and spoke.

(Okay guys, for the voice of the Boss of All Bosses, imagine the Godfather, Don Corleone.)

"I hear you were the target of an unprovoked attack. First, as a show of good faith, let me say that it was not _I _who put the hit on you, it was one of my underbosses Tommy the Tank, he has deep roots in politics and is known as the '_Merchant_ _of_ _Death'_, it was no surprise that one of his people requested a hit on you, most likely to get the thing they wanted, which, my men say are your blueprints. Now then, on to more personal business, I know you think of the Committee as a group of lawless thugs, rest assured however, I only resort to violence as a last resort, I am a businessman by profession and trade and the way I see it, your death would only be bad for business and it would only attract attention that I don't want or need. I have removed the hit placed on you and as we speak, Tommy is being arrested by members of the Royal Guard, the man who requested the hit, given his political ties, has been forced to resign. The attempt has already had unseen problems and as such, I wish to extinguish this fire before it gets out of hand." James nodded, truth be told, the last thing he wanted was to upset the man in front of him and risk an internal war.

"Just as long as the hit is removed and those responsible have been dealt with by the authorities, I have no complaint. Now then, can I do something for you, as you came all the way here to give me the news personally?" The Boss of All Bosses shook his head.

"No, there isn't; as a businessman I would deal with you legally, purchasing materials I need; however, I have a simple request, war is bad for business and this war with the Federation must be ended, however, I can sense that your fear is an internal war, sadly, this may already be underway as my 'friends' in Peninsula City tell me Dalon has hired several mercenary companies and has bought several ships, does this mean anything to you?" James shook his head, however, he hid the fact that the information had stunned him, Dalon was several things but crazy was not one of them; however, James knew how many mercenary companies Dalon had contacts for, the only thing he couldn't figure out was the ships. Then, a thought hit him.

"Sir, I have a favor to ask;" the Boss nodded and leaned forward, "there was a rumor floating around that you may have heard of, a weaponsmith was selling weapons to our nation's enemies, a while back, we found the merchant and he was arrested, however, he did not have the tools to make the weapons he sold; we thought the supplier was Dalon, however, the lack of evidence and a paper trail nixed the investigation; Dalon has always been secretive, however, if he was supplying weapons to our enemies, this becomes a matter of national security. To afford an army of mercenaries and also buy ships, he _must _have had something on the side; could your friends find what the official investigation could not?" The Boss scratched his chin for a moment and then nodded.

"I can do this, however, for _this _favor, I must ask for something in return; as you know, Shoreline is a hot spot for international trade, and is also a spot for mining valuable metals, I simply need some more advanced mining equipment as demand has exceeded the supply and we are in danger of losing customers. Can you supply us with the equipment we need?" James nodded and thanked the Boss for his time.

The Boss of All Bosses got up and left, as the door closed behind Lysa and Henry stepped up; Henry was the one to speak.

"Milord, I hope you know you have just made a deal with a criminal overlord, if you had just given the order, I could've arrested him in a moment." James shook his head slowly.

"He was prepared for that, did you see his left hand;" he asked, Henry replied 'no', and James continued, "he and his guards were armed, they had pepperboxes in their pockets and their hands never left the weapons grip. Patience is the name of the game; until he does something illegal that harms the country, I would prefer not to start an internal war, besides, he may have some information that we need. Until we find the traitor, we keep our options open." At that moment, everyone recognized Cynder's roar. Spyro sighed ruefully.

"Looks like Ignitus and Thera are at it again, what does this make it, the third time? Ancestors I was never _that_ active with Cynder." James laughed at the comment.

"Indeed, I would propose putting them in separate rooms, however since we are dealing with two amorous dragons, I would prefer to keep my castle intact. Hah, if Bertram were here, he'd probably say to let them have at each other, they'll tire out eventually." Lysa gasped with a mix of laughter and shock at those words.

"Oh no love, that was what Bertram said about _fighting_ dragons, he never gave advice on _mating_ dragons." James scratched his head and went back to his book.

"No wonder my romantic advice seems to fall flat; although, giving the frequency of their activities it does seem to apply in this case." Everyone laughed and left the library, Cynder's yelling echoing throughout the halls.

General Williams was silently reading over the telegraph the Federation had sent just a few moments ago regarding the attack on Launces; personally, the attempt to throw the blame on one of their most prestigious military units made him laugh, at the same time he also found it worrying. The King and the military officers' went deadpan as he read the telegraph aloud.

SIGNAL 9LR/INTRNAT MORSE LINE 12 DIPLOCOMM: S: NARREG, TELLANIA; R: ROYALIS, SYLLIA.

LEADERS OF SYLLIA, THIS MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED SOLEY THAT I CAN EXPRESS MY MOST SINCERE APOLOGIES IN REGARDS TO THE ATTACK OF LAUNCES. ALLOW ME TO ASSURE YOU THAT THE FEDERATION AND ITS MILITARY ARE IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM ATTEMPTING AN INVASION. A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE ATTACK, THE SLAYER CORPS ANNOUNCED THEIR INTENTION TO DEFECT FROM STANDARD MILITARY ORDERS AND BECOME A MERCENARY COMPANY. WE HERE WERE INITIALLY PLEASED DUE TO THE HIGH COSTS OF MAINTAINING THAT COMPANY WITH ANTI-DRAGON EQUIPMENT. HOWEVER, ONCE THE ATTACK WAS MADE PUBLIC, WE BECAME HORRIFIED BY THE NEWS AND ATTEMPTED TO ATTACK THE SLAYER CORPS. OUR ATTACK WAS MET WITH NO SUCCESS, WE LOST NINE BATTALIONS OF OUR FINEST SOLDIERS AND SEVERAL OUTSTANDING YOUNG OFFICERS. THEIR EQUIPMENT HAS FAR EXCEEDED OUR OWN AND THUS THEY HAVE PROVEN TO BE THE SUPERIOR FORCE. WE HAVE FOLLOWED THEIR MOVEMENTS AND HAVE DETERMINED THAT THE SLAYERS WERE SOLEY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ATTACK, AND ARE NOW TAKING REFUGE IN SHILDHAVEN IN ORDER TO LICK THEIR WOUNDS. SADLY, DUE TO OUR RECENT LOSSES AT THEIR HANDS, WE CANNOT SEND IN TROOPS TO ASSIST YOU, HOWEVER, WE WILL SENT A MESSAGE TO SHILDHAVEN TO EXPECT YOU AND TO ASSIST YOU IF NESSESSARY IN EXPELLING OR DESTROYING THE SLAYER CORPS. AGAIN, THE FEDERATION HAS NO WISH TO START ANOTHER WAR WITH SYLLIA, WE ONLY WISH FOR PEACE.

IN MOST SINCERE REGARDS,

WILLIAM HAXTON, FED. COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN, 3RD REGION.

Eddy and the rest of the officers present grimaced and then looked at Williams.

"Have the Home Wings and Militia been notified," asked Eddy. Williams nodded and pointed to the world map in the chamber.

"We have the Federation's information and have determined the base for the Slayer Corps is there, near the city of Muenster." One of the aides gasped.

"My God, that puts the bastards within striking distance of Peninsula City, Launces, and Shildhaven's capital Stauffenberg, if they attack the Shildhaven capital they could start a world war." Eddy looked at the aide sternly.

"How so lieutenant?" The aide looked at the King and approached the map.

"As everyone knows, sir, Shildhaven is a former state of the Praetorian Empire, yet they still maintain diplomatic status with their motherland. If a military unit known to fly the Federation's standards attacked a Shildhaven city, the shit would hit the fan for sure. Shildhaven is recognized as neutral territory for _all_ human nations, if the Federation sends a message telling the Republic about our involvement, this could bring Shildhaven, Tellania, Syllia, Praetoria, Northumbria, and even the Kingdoms of Anozira and Espan into a full blown war, with us getting pinned to the Federation and Northumbria as allies. Five allied world powers against three central powers." Admiral Greagor nodded and looked at Eddy.

"Your Majesty, let us send a letter to Stauffenberg and explain what we are about to do, meanwhile, the _Arkibus_ has been repaired and the new battleship _Crusader_ has been completed, I propose, since Muenster is built near the Hanged Man's Archipelago, it's a natural harbor and is a chance for the Royal Navy and the Marines to finish those cowards off. It may also be the chance we need to secure peace with the Federation at last." At this statement, several officer's voiced outcries of several explicative's, curses, and 'Hell no's'; a stern glance from the King silenced them all.

"For all my life, my father and my father's father said that as long as Syllia has the Dracocorps and the Tellanians have the Slayer Corps, we can _never _have peace between our lands. A small abandoned fort on the edge of our borders is all that links us to the past and forces us to remember those ancient wrongs. Quite frankly, I'm tired of it. By all means, the military _will_ protect the country if we are attacked, however, remember this, '_A sword that is never sheathed will soon rust and dull_,' those are the words my father spoke constantly, a military that is always on patrol and never rests will soon find itself brittle and weak, an enemy at our gates that wishes peace is preferable to a country far away that wishes only war. The Federation wishes for peace, I say, let us bury the hatchet in something besides each other's hearts. To forget war, one must learn peace. The only time I myself have ever known peace was the day before my father was assassinated, he took me to Launces, and alongside James de Launces, and his bodyguard Havvers, we went to Lake Gerion and spent the better part of the day fishing. That was the only time in my life I got to see my father as someone else other than the King of Syllia; that very next day, I lost his forever. How many of our people can say that they've ever known peace, very few. We've been rattling our sabers across the border for so long that we have forgotten what it means to be at peace and, you can deny it all you want, some of you are _afraid_ of peace. Look me in the eyes and tell me it is not so."

Several officers who had protested shrank back into their seats, they _were_ afraid of peace and the changes that it might bring. For so many years, Syllia had been called a military superpower, they were the only country in the world with dragons and fully automatic weapons and steel dreadnaughts, now other countries had heard of the Battle of Launces and were rushing to keep up. Rumors had already reached that the Federation and the Praetorian Empire had developed working tanks and aeroplanes, another was that a weapon called the 'Shoshoss' was now the basic infantry weapon of the Anoziran infantry, hell, the Kingdom of Espan had already launched and christened six new carriers and had built new types of aircraft called 'bombers'. Even Shildhaven had just announced plans for a new type of ship called a 'frigate', a ship that combined the speed of a destroyer with the firepower and armor of a cruiser. Most of Syllia's military advancements were made during times of war: medicine, weapons, metal treatment and tempering, riveting, welding, there was even word that the Mechanical Count James de Launces was working on a machine to generate electricity and working on ways to use it. He had already demonstrated this invention once by 'electrifying' a few chandeliers in the royal castle. A glass tube called a 'bulb' stored a filament that gave off heat and light when electricity was run through it. Granted an electric dragon was there with two wires sticking out of his mouth acting as the power source, but still a mechanical marvel was a mechanical marvel nonetheless, like an old saying went: 'If it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, then it's a duck.'

Eddy was aware of these rumors and accomplishments himself, truth be told he was proud to have his nation known as a technological superpower, however, he wanted to be known for peace instead of war. Still however, how he was going to do that puzzled him. Finally, after reviewing the plan in his head, he turned to Admiral Greagor.

"Admiral, you have my permission to engage and destroy the Slayer Corps. Get the ships you wish to take squared away and get what personnel you need, however, you will have to wait until the Republic gives its consent before you sail into their national waters. Also sent a message to James de Launces, he is going to have to train some recruits to fly those new aeroplanes, we cannot rely solely upon the dragons, also, the Slayers have most likely fortified their positions by now, we're going to need a ship or boat capable of reaching their positions; we're going to have to get our hands dirty at some point." Greagor saluted and promptly departed the audience chamber.

The fog covering the Southern Ocean was thick, Gerald found himself straining to see the prow of the '_Ravager_' as the dreadnaught sailed slowly through the cold, dark, water. The only sound was the occasional echo of the flagship's fog horn; the only visible markers were the red and green lanterns on the ship's bridge and smokestacks. Dalon had mentioned something called the '_Poseidon_' in the briefing, but did not disclose what it was or where it was located. Sighing and giving up on seeing anything, he went below decks and stopped at the mess hall where the rest of his unit of the Blackguards were watching and laughing at a reel that Maxie had brought on board. The reel starred the comedy genius Bill Henny, it was one of his best, 'The Broom in the Room'. With nothing else to do, he pulled up a chair next to his lieutenant Tommy and started watching.

Tommy and Maxie were the only members of the group who Gerald considered friends. They were the two guys who pulled him off the battle fired all those years ago and vouched for him in the company; they were also the only people he told about his father. Maxie was manning the projector and Tommy was one of the loudest laughing. Gerald started laughing when Bill's character, 'Jake Broom' started running around the room. The scene was a trademark of him, a woman in the center, Bill Henny running around the room with a series of people (usually the woman's father, brother, and several other male family members running around faster than normal), the record player played the music that accompanied the reel was playing loudly, Gerald found himself wondering if films would ever be made in color instead of black and white as they were now.

Suddenly, a loud horn blew and the captain's voice came through the pipe.

"Attention all hands, prepare to dock with the _Poseiden_, all non critical personnel on board prepare to disembark." Gerald's head shot up.

(_Disembark? Docking? According to the sea charts we're still in the middle of the Southern Ocean, we're approximately six hundred miles off the coast of the Southlands. What the Hell is going on.)_ Gerald's mind raced, then he shot up and ran out of the room, the rest of the Blackguards followed suit.

Gerald and the Blackguards ran up on deck and their jaws went slack. Maxie took the words out of the Blackguards mouths.

"How the Hell can a _city_ be here; we're still in the middle of the ocean?!" Gerald's started at the docks, then, the fog began clearing and he found his eyes travelling up, up, up into the skies.

Several tall spires made of steel and smokestacks blocked the horizon to the south, pipes spilling brackish water into the ocean dotted the sides; the sounds of gears, pistons, drivers, and engines echoed from the construct. Gerald looked at the tallest spire in the construct and saw a massive window overlooking everything. All around the _Ravager_ ships of other classes including cruisers, destroyers, transports, and even a few carriers dotted the docks making him wonder how many ships Dalon had hired, however, that question fell flat when the water at Dock 13 white capped. An explosion of air heralded the surfacing of a ship Gerald had heard of but never seen before, a submarine, Maxie, who was from Praetoria called them U-boats, although the Syllian term for them was submarines.

Praetoria had first built submarines ten years ago at the turn of the century and used them during the Shildhaven uprising en masse, however the design was flawed, more of them blew up than were successful, recent advances in technology had forced them to update their designs. The old obsolete versions had been sold off like hot cakes while they produced the newer versions. Gerald was no expert, but these subs looked like the obsolete Flounder-class, U-9, by the faded number on the tower. The Flounder-class was 188feet long, had a beam of 20feet, a draught of 10feet surfaced, and displaced 610 Tons submerged; her crew complement was twenty-eight officers and men. The armament consisted of two forward torpedo tubes and one rear tube, the deck had a 1inch caliber cannon. Upon seeing the number, Maxie began cursing like a sailor.

"That's U-9, which was the boat my father served on as XO in the Shildhaven Uprising! Those bastards; they actually _sold_ her, a piece of Praetorian and nautical history!" Gerald had heard of Maxie's father, he was one of the first submariners in the Empire but they had been called a modern pirates by members of the Imperial Navy, those naysayers were quickly silenced when U-9 went on a raid that sank three cruisers in one hour. The crewmen of U-9 were legends, to actually _see_ one of the first submarines was exhilarating and the fact it was famous only increased the awe everyone felt.

The submarine slowly moved forward into a huge bunker in the side that opened up revealing several more submarines inside. One of Dalon's TG lieutenants who was on the ship walked up next to him and followed his gaze.

"General Dalon purchased the submarines through third party buyers, sadly, he was only able to purchase forty of the six hundred submarines for sale, any more than that, he would have left a paper trail for the Royal Government to follow. You know what bloodhounds those auditors are. 'The only absolutes in this world are death and taxes', man will _always _die and of course man will _always_ die; there is no way to stop it although people often try to prolong it for as long as they can. Over there is Dalon's flagship '_Cataclysm_', she is easily the most powerful ship in existence, even more powerful than the Syllian _Dreadnaught_. She is not as long as the _Dreadnaught_, only at 645feet, but she has eight new seven inch guns, twelve four inch guns, several machineguns, and as a secret weapon, she has sixteen seventeen inch submerged torpedo tubes: eight starboard, eight port, four bow, and four stern. She is the pride of the General's Invasion Fleet. Now then, all mercenary leaders are to report to the Spire for the briefing and information, while we are here, all soldiers will undergo rudimentary training on the new machines and then all vessels will leave for Gnorc Harbor. See you at the briefing lieutenant." The TG officer turned on his heel and marched out off the gangplank and onto the steel dock. Gerald paused and looked at the ships gathered here before stepping off and walking toward the door to the Spire, he grimly wondered how the Hell anyone was going to stop this force. Speed was the key, it was now or never, he _had_ to transmit a message before it was too late. As he entered the Spire he heard a sound that made his blood run cold; a deep, dark song that could only come from a pipe organ (for those who have played TLOS: The Eternal Night, imagine Gaul's theme).

The music echoed everywhere and reverberated off the walls. The TG soldiers here stood a silent vigil and looked as if they _liked_ this music. As the rest of the Blackguards came in, they were directed to a lift that would take them up to the top floor. As the lift slowed and stopped, the Blackguard officers stepped out and Gerald saw the main room. Dalon sat in the back of the room playing a _massive_ pipe organ. He knew something was wrong; Dalon was wearing his old military uniform, except it had been dyed black with dark violet accents. As Dalon stopped playing and turned to face the assembled officers, he smiled wickedly and began to address them.

"Gentlemen, as you know, during my time in the Syllian Royal Army I was discharged under suspicion for torturing POWs, however, for those of you who know the enemy we faced, you know that it was the _least _those bastards deserved;" several officers nodded at this, Dalon continued, "However, my efforts were not appreciated by my comrades and superiors. Thus, I have decided I will not purge the Southlands for my _country's _glory, I will purge it for _my_ glory. As mercenaries, I have purchased your loyalties, however, for those who are _truly_ loyal to me and me alone, I ask you to disavow your allegiances to your former homelands and swear allegiance to me and the new country I wish to build. Those of you who do _not_ disavow your previous loyalties or swear allegiance to me, you and your company will _not _have a share in the untapped treasures of this foreign land. As you can see, the Titan Guard have already swore allegiance to me, I just need the rest of you to do so; I will have your answers now gentlemen, before you leave this tower."

Gerald was horrified, he gazed down at the small silver cross on his lapel that was the Blackguards mark for his national allegiance; he was more horrified still as most of the mercenary companies to his left and right took off their lapels and cast them before Dalon's desk, the Blackguard's leader was hesitant, Gerald seeing the same Syllian cross on his coat. Commander Isaac Silber was a veteran of several engagements as both a soldier and a mercenary, he had left the Syllian Marines as a Major and was respected by his soldiers; the only exception was his second in command Luis Reems. The commander took one massive step forward, his body casting a shadow over Dalon's desk.

"You ask me to forsake the country which was my homeland, the land I gave my blood, sweat, and tears to serve and protect. Dalon, you and I have never quite seen eye to eye, however, I went along with your plans because I believed you were working toward the greater good; 'the ends excuse the means', I think you said when you first hired my company. Well here, sir, I sadly have to say that I cannot, in good conscience, cast aside all that I was in order to join you on this crusade." Dalon frowned and Gerald saw Luis tighten his jaw. Then, with a deep sigh, Dalon spoke up.

"I see, and I understand your feelings, however, are you sure you speak for every man in your company?" The Commander stood resolute. Dalon gazed at him for a long time and Gerald could _feel_ the tension between the two men. Of all the Blackguard officers present, Gerlad knew he was the only one who felt the same as the Commander and, having seen Dalon's temper before, he feared for the old man. Then suddenly, a shot ripped from behind and the Commander fell forward into Dalon's desk. Gerald turned to see Luis holding his revolver in his left hand, his right having been blown off by Gerald's father back in Launces. The Commander turned and saw Luis, his face fixed in confusion and shock. He coughed blood as he spoke.

"Et tu, Luis, why?" Luis strode forward and looked at the dying man and Dalon's smug look.

"Because you lack the foresight _I _do; I can see that Dalon is doing what is right, he will lead us to a new era of greatness, and we have come too far to turn back now, I lost my right _arm_ trying to further Dalon's ambitions because I could see what he was doing. I will not allow you and your antiquated rules and codes to interrupt _my_ vision of a new world, of a new mercenary company. Dalon will make the Blackguards one of the strongest mercenary companies in the world, and I won't let you fuck it up for me;" He pointed his revolver to the Commander' temple, "I'm afraid sir, that you can consider this your early retirement." Luis pulled the trigger and the Commander's brains flew everywhere. Luis casually brushed off the brain on his coat and slapped his lapel, an Anoziran star, and the Commander's cross on the desk.

"Speaking as the new leader of the Blackguards, I swear my loyalty and the loyalty of _my_ company to you and your cause." Dalon nodded and accepted the lapels of the remaining Blackguard officers, Gerald handed his over mainly because he knew that he couldn't help anyone as a corpse. Dalon nodded and the TG gathered the remaining emblems. Dalon stood and spoke aloud.

"Gentlemen, partners, welcome to the Rofelam Grand Army. You have one week to train your men in how to use the new weapons, after that, they will be given their assignments and we will invade Gnorc Harbor. Oh and before I forget, do not worry about some sort of '_national _intervention_', _for soon the home countries will have their own problems to attend to in Shildhaven, a problem called the Federal Slayer Corps, and a rather nasty surprise of my own creation." Everyone cheered except for Gerald, who gave an excuse to best start training early. Gerald stepped outside and vomited into the gutter, several Blackguard soldiers from his squad looked in askance, and when he told them, he was relieved somewhat that they shared his sentiments and he was doubly relieved when he learned that two other squads including Tommy's and Maxie's squadssupported his beliefs. Gerald then knew that this would possibly destroy the Blackguards, but then again, when Luis shot the Commander and surrendered, he killed the Blackguards then and there, and he was on the fast track to destroying everything. Everything that had happened, everything that was going to happen was linked to the 'Malefor' that Dalon had spoken with. Gerald couldn't help but feel that Dalon had made a deal with the devil. He looked to the loyal few; five squads, thirty-five loyalists. He took a deep breath and addressed them.

"Gentlemen, I know you never wanted to hear this, however, with the death of the Commander, the Blackguards as we knew them, are dead. If we are to stop Luis' ambitions we will have to train better and learn faster than any of our treasonous brothers. We are the only hope for our countries now; we are on the front line for world peace. We _have _to alert our homelands to what has transpired and hope they will send reinforcements. When I was little, I was friends with James de Launces, the Mechanical Count, and he taught me how to use ciphers and encryptions; I will teach you these cipher keys and we will use them to speak with our homelands. James will know the ciphers and he will decode them. When the time is right, we will turn our guns on these traitors and we will fight. I don't know if we will have the support of our countries or the denizens of the Southlands, however, if we do not take our stand, how can we expect anyone else to stand with or for us? Train hard with the new weapons and memorize everything, we will not have many chances to do this. Now then, let's head for the barracks, I will teach you the ciphers and then we will figure out a way to send our messages to Launces." The soldiers nodded and soon they walked with him to the barracks. Gerald knew what must be done, his thought echoed his emotions.

_(I have to stop Dalon, and this 'Malefor', before they damn us all.) _

Been a while eh? Well here's the pre-invasion chapter, I did a little reversal of names in this chapter, can you find what I reversed? In the next one the focus mainly shifts to Launces and training the recruits. I've been tossing some ideas around for a crossover like Fire Emblem/ Spyro, or Risen 2/ Spyro. Hopefully, I'll have those up before too long.

As a history bite, the section about U-9 was actual history. U-9 was a German submarine in WWI and its Captain, Kapitan-Leutnant (that's the German translation I think, {my German is _very_ rusty}) Otto Weddigen (1882-1915) was one of the first successful sub commanders in nautical history. Nicknamed the 'Polite Pirate' by the British Navy, he served as commander of U-9 when she sank three British Heavy Cruisers: HMS _Aboukir, Hogue, _and_, Cressy_ in just one hour in stormy seas. However, after the victory he was given command of U-29 and on March 18, 1915, he set his sights on sinking several battleships of Britain's Grand Fleet in the North Sea including the legendary HMS _Dreadnaught_, however, an alert scout saw the subs periscope and sounded the alarm. Within moments, the 21,844 Ton flagship turned and sliced the small sub in half, sending her to the bottom of the North Sea with all hands aboard.

U-9 on the other hand went on to fight several more times in the war but was surrendered at the end of the war. She was towed to the British port of Morecambe in April 1919 where she was dismantled and sold for scrap. This was the fate of all submarines surrendered during and after the war. However, the actions of Captain Weddigen and several others made a mark on naval combat and showed that threats from the surface were not the only things battleships had to worry about, no matter how powerful a ship's deck guns are, unless they can hit a submerged target, they are useless. It would be another twenty years until the Japanese would show the world that aircraft could easily overpower a dreadnaught. The most well known airplane vs. battleship attacks include the infamous attack at Pearl Harbor, and the Japanese attack against British Task Force Z, which had been sent to reinforce the British and Australian garrisons at Singapore; another instance was aircraft from a British carrier damaging the German battleships _Bismarck _and _Tirpitz_, as well as the legendary assault on an Italian Naval Base (I know the name but for the love of history I can't recall), also American aircraft participating in the sinking of the Japanese super battleships _Yamato _and _Musashi, _andtheBattleforMidway and other conflicts in the South Pacific.

Despite their successes though, early U-boats and other submarines were known to sometimes suffer mechanical problems and other failures, one instance I heard of was a U-boat off the coast of Africa suffering a problem and sinking because of a toilet malfunctioning, flooding the sub; another suffered a difficulty with their electronics and sank just out of port, and several suffered torpedo malfunctions and exploded underwater; and of course the first submarine disaster in history, no not the Revolutionary War '_Turtle_', during the American Civil War the Confederacy had built a new type of boat which was actually a submarine called the _'Hunley'_; during its first and only mission, it attached a 'torpedo charge' (a small box filled with either gunpowder or dynamite) and detonated it, however, it is believed the _Hunley_ blew itself up at the same time. This was before the Union's '_Alligator_' took to the waters and became America's first submarine. The first submarine actually considered by the US Navy was the Holland 6 sub. The British Navy didn't accept the submarine until after WWI, during the war the Admiralty viewed all submariners as 'pirates', in fact, the term 'anti-submarine warfare' had not had a use. During WWI, Britain's anti-sub countermeasures were basically two Scotsmen from Scapa Flow who would row about in a rowboat and if they saw a periscope, they would row over to it and one man would hit the scope with a mallet, hopefully breaking it. It would be several years before submarines were considered important enough to require experienced designers and top tier materials, and before they were deemed big enough threats for new 'anti-sub' weapons like depth charges to be invented.

This history bite has been brought to you by me, hope you like it, and as always, please rate and review.


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